Is women's happiness increasing?

I found an interesting article the other day.

According to an article in President Woman from December 3rd of last year, the happiness of young Japanese women is rising.
This seems to be a rare phenomenon globally.

In my recent article, "What makes you feel happy?", I wrote that Japan's ranking in the World Happiness Report was 55th in 2025, down from 51st the previous year, and showing a downward trend compared to 46th place ten years ago.

I wondered, "If the overall level is falling, why is only women's happiness rising?" and decided to dig a little deeper.

<Reasons why women's happiness is rising>

In the past, it was taken for granted in society that women would "get married by the age of 30, become a full-time housewife, and have children."

As a free way of life not bound by such expectations gradually became accepted, and at the same time, legal frameworks such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Law and the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law were established, the happiness of young women seems to have risen for half a century until around 2000.

<Difference in happiness between men and women>

I found data broken down by gender in the Cabinet Office's "Survey Report on Satisfaction and Quality of Life."

https://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai2/wellbeing/manzoku/report09.pdf

Looking at this, it is clear that men's life satisfaction is lower than women's.

Based on the data, I created a graph showing the trends in happiness for men and women from 1966 to 2025.

Among OECD member countries, Japan is the only one where women's happiness exceeds that of men.

Even though it is said that "Japan is a male-dominated society," why is this?

<Reasons why men's happiness is low>

Despite being viewed by society as the "breadwinner," the number of men becoming non-regular employees due to recent restructuring has increased, and because the wages for non-regular work are significantly lower than for regular work, their happiness has dropped significantly due to that gap.

In an article I wrote previously, I also mentioned that Japan's wage growth rate is declining.

<Differences in happiness between men and women>

Women have been liberated from various constraints, their options for how to live have increased, and social pressure has decreased, opening up a path for them to lead lives true to themselves.

On the other hand, for men, the ethical view that demands masculinity remains unchanged, so the invisible pressure to be the breadwinner weighs heavily on them, and the increase in non-regularly employed men has caused their happiness to drop significantly.

In short, I believe that the distortion between women's advancement in society and the traditional roles of men is manifesting as a gap in happiness between the genders.

If we accept many low-wage foreign workers due to the declining birthrate and aging population, it could potentially suppress relative wage growth.

I think this issue is quite complex and extremely difficult.

Elections that advocate for 'Japanese First' are also held, and I hope they lead us in a good direction.

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