The Influence of Gender on Perceptions of the Quality of Life

Jackie Scott & Jane Nolan & Anke Zimmermann University of Cambridge

EU Interest in Wellbeing and QoL European Social Survey (ESS) seeks to develop

measures that will allow us to assess EU aim of “promoting.. the wellbeing of its people”

Distinction between objective & subjective wellbeing

Distinction between personal vs social or relational wellbeing

Distinction between having (feeling) & doing (functioning) eudaimonic/hedonistic (Aristotle)

Conceptual developments Sen and capability

(person’s life combines doing and beings i.e. functionings;

capabilities refer to various combinations of functionings that a person can choose to have). Realisable opportunity;

Not utility based Not individualistic

Veenhoven’s

Four Qualities of Life:

OuterLife chances

Livability of environment

InnerLife chances

Life-abilityOf person

Life results

Utility of lifeLife results

Appreciation of life

Perceptions of Q o L Quality of life is both an ‘experience

distant’ and ‘experience near’ concept (Clifford Geertz)

According to recent THES/Halifax – City 23rd; Cambridge 28th; Leeds 84th (labour, housing, urban environ, physical environ, health, education & university environment)

People’s own views of Q o L important Perceptions matter – what people perceive

as real has real consequences (W I Thomas)

Gender, Life Course, Class, and Q o L Relational focus - gender differences

(Gilligan) women more ‘other’ focused than men

Gendered division of labour – different things may matter to men and women

Timing matters (life course) – what matters will change with different life (& family) stages

Resources matter – class (occupational status, income, and education) help shape expectations & experiences

British Household Panel The British Household Panel Survey began in 1991

and is a multi-purpose study whose unique value resides in the fact that:

It follows the same representative sample of individuals - the panel - over a period of years;

It is household-based, interviewing every adult member of sampled households;

It contains sufficient cases for meaningful analysis of certain groups such as the elderly or lone parent families;

The wave 1 panel consists of some 5,500 households and 10,300 individuals drawn from 250 postal areas of Great Britain.

British Household Panel Study (1997 & 2001) Open-Ended Measure of Quality of Life

The final question asks you to think about things that are important to you. There is a lot of discussion these days about quality of life, yet that means different things to different people. Would you take a moment to think about what quality of life means to you, and tell me what things you consider are important for your own quality of life

(For each mention) In what way is that important to you?

Quality of Life Main Codings POSITIVE MENTIONS1. Personal characteristics • good health • freedom/independence • happiness/peace of mind • safety• Time for self • other personal

2. Material characteristics • Finances• Consumption• Home comforts• Employment• Car, transport• Education • Other material

3. Leisure ……….. ……

4. Spiritual/Moral/Community Aspects

………….

5. Other People including pets

…………..6. Aspects of Locality and

Environment

NEGATIVE MENTIONS• Need better personal characteristics, less

worry, better health…• Need better material characteristics.. More

money, better job ….• More leisure/recreation• More morality/spiritual/community spirit• …. etc …. • Other negative mentions

Q of Life Main mentions (% of sample who mention)

• Health 53%• Family 40%• Finance/standard of living 38%

• Being happy 28%• Friends 20%• Home comforts 16%• Leisure/travel 15%• Employment 14%• Freedom 7%• Time for self 7%• Other material benefits 7%• Environment, community 7%• Other personal 6%• Spiritual, moral 5%

• Negative mentions 5%• Miscel Others 7%• Don’t know 1%

NB Up to 4 mentions are coded so % exceeds 100% (mentions taken from 1997 (N = 9047); similar pattern of mentions in 2002)

% Mentions of health by age & gender

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40

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15-19 20-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75 75+

Age

% o

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male female

Qualitative difference in health mentions by age & gender

Younger people (under 50) give generic health mentions e.g. ‘if you haven’t got your health you can’t do anything’

Older people (50+) mention specific ailments or declines & importance of ‘marbles’ and ‘mobility’

Older people mention significant other’s health having direct bearing on own wellbeing e.g. ‘I haven’t got any QoL at moment, as my husband has Alzheimer’s

Younger people also cite relational aspect of health emphasising that their own QoL is bound up with health of immediate family

Mentions of family by gender, age & whether or not married/partnered

Respondents are married or living as a couple

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70

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90

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15-19 20-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75 75+

Age

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who

men

tion

fam

ily

male female

Respondents are never married

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15-19 20-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75 75+

Age

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male female

Qualitative difference in family mentions by age & gender

• Women more likely than men to mention family at all age groups

• Mentions of family highest for people through to mid adulthood (under age 46)

• Young people mention dependence on families for moral & financial support

• Gender role differences in caring vs breadwinning role, women emphasise importance of kids wellbeing & men secure job in order to provide for family needs

• “If they’re happy I am happy” characteristic female response (although some men too) • Work-life balance issues often coincide with family mentions, but what balance means

is gendered

• For men ‘balance’ tends to be where the heavy burdens of work are off-set by time with family e.g. “ I’m always stressed at work – its nice to turn off and relax at home”

• For women, greater variation in how balance regarded (Hakim, but with resource constraints, work skills, education, child care etc)

Qualitative difference in finance mentions by age & gender In general, finance mentions

concern having sufficient money not to worry and to be fairly comfortable

Rampant materialism and consumerism is notable by its absence

Men more likely than women to emphasise breadwinner role ie earning decent wage to support family

Relatively few older people (65+) mention finance (nb very few people mention negative code – ‘qual of life’ has positive nuance)

0

10

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30

40

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15-19 20-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75 75+

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finan

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male female

Family formation & Changing evaluations of Q o L Importance of well being of others for Q o L Other orientation varies depending on life-stage Family formation key transition Sub-sample - single & under age 40 in 1997; with kid in 2002

Women (N = 69) 2001 work status

Men (N=82) 2001 work status

employed Family care(incl maternity)

Other(unempl)

employed Family care Other(unempl)

Employed1997

28 20 2 70 1 2

Other (incl student) 1997

4 12 3 5 0 4

What matters before & after kids

Eleanor - giving up smoking, health generally, expanding my career, making myself money, my future generally.. (1997)

- my son and a good family life: that’s all that’s important to me (2002)

Mary - happiness and standard of living (1997)

- health of my child and family, they’re my whole life, what would I do without them (2002)

Carol - good friends and a steady income (1997)

- being with family, see baby grow up and being with partner (2002)

Exceptions – family mentions across both waves or in neither, but for most women clear shift in priorities

Andrew - go out and enjoy myself (aged 26, partly skilled manual 1997) - to be comfortable, not struggling as we do at moment. If I could get a better job everything would be fine (unskilled manual aged 31)

Billy - comfortable income, nice food, nice place to live, nice clothes and spending time with my girlfriend (aged 23 managerial and technical work 1997)

- making a living to keep us all happy

Ian - being able to go out and enjoy yourself (aged 29, 1997)

- being with my family; they keep me happy and make me laugh (aged 34, 2001)

Exceptions – some make no reference to others in responses after acquiring a family, but most men, like women emphasise wellbeing of others more when have family of their own

Resources & Mentions of Q o L(provisional results from pooled logit, includes both waves)

health family finance happiness friends

R G Class + lower class - lower class - Lower

Female + more + more

Female * RG + Females * lower class

+Female *

Lower class

Education + less educ + higher educ

Age + older + older - older - older

Age2 U shape U shape Upturned U Upturned U

Income quintile + higher + higher + higher - higher

Year 2002 + more - Less - less

R2 (Pseudo) 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.02

N=7996

Conclusions

• Quality of life is perceived differently for men and women• How far women are more ‘other’ focused than men is unclear • Women’s and men’s focus on others can take different forms – e.g.

financial support versus personal caring • Men and women have different conceptions of balance of work and

family• Men and women both become more focused on others, through

transition to forming families of their own• Need to consider QoL as relational – lives in convoy • People more concerned with intimate lives rather than

community/society (may reflect personal emphasis of question)• QoL process not state, need to examine stability & change over life

course • Resources matter - people’s perceptions, aspirations &

experiences are influenced by their occupation, education & income

ESRC Gender Equality Network

Research Priority Network on Gender Inequalities in Production & Reproduction

www.genet.ac.uk