Happy Homemakers or Desperate Housewives?

Work, Parenthood and Women’s Affective Well-Being

Abstract

This paper analyzes how labor market status and motherhood relate to the affective well-being of women using Day Reconstruction Method data from the United Kingdom Time Use Survey 2014-15. Results indicate that women working full-time do not experience higher affective well-being throughout the day, as measured by the duration-weighted mean of self-reported enjoyment, than women in other labor market statuses. Indeed, women working part-time, self-employed women, homemakers and women on maternity leave are shown to have higher enjoyment scores than full-time employees. There is also a positive and significant correlation between motherhood and affective well-being. However, this relationship decreases in magnitude and becomes insignificant in some cases once the labor market status is controlled for, which could indicate that a shift towards labor market statuses that are more conducive to affective well-being mediates the relationship.