Gender differences in well‑being: Can women and men have it all?

Gender equality in well‑being is not simply a women’s issue. While traditional disadvantages faced by women and girls persist in most countries, men and boys are increasingly exposed to uncertain job prospects and need to adapt to changing tasks and societal expectations. Although men continue to score higher than women in a number of areas, no gender consistently outperforms the other and the gender gaps in well‑being have being narrowing in recent decades. Whilst women live longer than men, they are also ill more often. Girls are now doing better than boys in school, but still remain under-represented in the key fields of education that provide greater job opportunities. Similarly, although women are increasingly present in the labour market, they still earn less than men, spend more hours in unpaid work and find it harder to reach the top of the career ladder or start their own business. Men are more often the victims of homicide and assault, but women are the primary target of intimate partner violence. Finally, although women are more satisfied with their lives than men, they are more likely to experience negative emotions. Despite progress in mainstreaming gender perspectives in the collection and dissemination of national statistics, gender data and indicators are still insufficient or lack cross-country comparability in a number of critical well‑being areas.