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Life Satisfaction


It is hard to understand the thoughts of men and women about happiness. To discover the similarities and differences, I decided to do two interviews with a male and female from the University of Washington. The male interviewee is David Troung, age 18 and currently enrolled in University of Washington studying to major in Electronic Engineer and Business. The female interviewee is Sarah Bui, also age 18 and attend the University of Washington and studying to major in the medical field. Based upon the two interviews with David and Sarah, both have similar views on happiness and career satisfaction but have different views on family life.

David and Sarah both agree that women are not as happy as men but had different reason why men are happier than women. David explains that woman often feels rejected from society based upon the fact that they are oppressed by the masculine forces in society. David continues to explain his reason because women do not feel that they are equally treated equally as men, also men generally have more to say in relationships and have greater opportunities than women. Sarah disagree with David instead she said women are not has happy as men because women are more adapt to be depressed, more emotional and sensitive.

Both agree that financial success and jobs are more important to men than to women. Sarah and David say that men are the breadwinners of the household. For example generally men receive on average more salary than women. David said men’s jobs are valued more than women’s jobs because there are more men in the workforce also, in David opinion men are the superior workers as they are often more emotionally stable. David also added that through the courses of history, women have always been ambitious and continue to gain prominence in social and societal roles. Sarah explained that women are now stepping in and taking on tradition roles of men, it enables and empower other women to see themselves in positions as men.

Even though both Sarah and David have similar agreements, they also have disagreements on family life and marriages. David said that in marriages either women or men can feel more satisfied from a marriage. Marriage is a mutual thing in which two people come together as one. The satisfaction of both is based on each other’s ability to give and sacrifice. In Sarah’s perspective often women feel less satisfy in marriages in men because based upon her family she feels that women are often the first ones who seek divorce. David added because men tend to be the domineering than women and want to be in charge of the family. Because of this, wives may feel that they do not have a fair say in their marriage. In the family, often women are the ones that are doing the housework while the men bring home the money. Also David said that throughout history, the society has often been largely paternal, and mothers often find themselves in the dominant care-taken role. Sarah explained differently because in traditional marriages men have more power than women. She also said that men can be lazier than women which cause men to have more leisure time than women.

Based upon the interviews on David and Sarah views on happiness, jobs and family life, both David and Sarah have very similar views. Both agree about the life in the business world where men tend to be happier but women are also reaching the happiness level of men. Both also agree that the generally men tend to be more happy than women. Both views on family life are different because both interviewees are raised in a different situation and surroundings. I agree with David ideas and arguments maybe because I think men tend to have similar views on happiness, work satisfaction, and marriages. I also believed that men and women need to improve on the equality for family life.