Women who give up family life for a career are less likely to be happy than their married counterparts, a Quebec report has found.
A survey of 1,200 professional women showed that women who forsake getting married and having children and instead concentrate on their career are twice as likely to be depressed as married women.
The study was conducted among women lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants by Ethel Roskies, a Montreal psychologist.
The author of the survey measured happiness by asking the women to grade their “life satisfaction.” It was lowest for women who have never been married.
“Single women at age 35 to 40 start to feel disillusioned with work,” Roskies said.
As well, the survey found that in most cases, working longer hours didn’t make the women financially better off.
Roskies said she picked women for the report who are in traditionally-male careers. The women generally were in their late 30s and had time to establish themselves in their careers.
Judy Rebick, president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, immediately came out against the study calling it a “perfect example of the media backlash against women.”
(Source: Western Report Jan. 4, 1993)
