Job satisfaction: towards internalizing the feeling of inequality between men and women

The more pronounced job satisfaction among women is generally observed despite their less favorable work situation compared to men. However, regression analysis alone in a sample of non-comparable men and women may be subject to model misspecification. Our work uses an innovative matching procedure, Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM), to address this issue and analyze the reasons for the differential in job satisfaction between men and women with the same characteristics. Data from the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey are considered including five measures of satisfaction with career development prospects taken as a new measure. The results show that women are more satisfied with job security, while they seem less satisfied with their career development prospects. A similar level of satisfaction is observed between men and women with regard to social relations, overall satisfaction and salary. Exceptionally, the youngest women, or those with higher education, or employed at a higher hierarchical level, or working in male-dominated sectors, expressed levels of satisfaction that were the opposite of the other women. This is likely due to the fact that these women align their job expectations with those of their male counterparts.