Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has found women’s secret to happiness: be conservative.
Political junkies might be interested to learn that conservative women are particularly blissful: about 40 percent say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest of all are liberal men; only about a fifth consider themselves very happy.
Brooks’ findings come from the University of Chicago’s General Social Survey, a survey of Americans conducted since 1972, which the author says has produced consistent and reliable findings for decades.
In the New York Post, Ramesh Ponnuru writes about another interesting discovery relating to the “happiness” spectrum:
“Women who say they have turned down a promotion or made some other work sacrifice for the sake of their families report high happiness levels.”
I guess that debunks feminists’ insistence that women should put their careers first. Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote a book called Lean In, encouraging women to reach for more leadership roles at the office. This is something to be admired, of course, but not to the extent that it engenders maternal neglect.
One writer at the New York Times loved Sandberg's book, explaining how it encouraged women not to “hold themselves back” in their careers. So, apparently choosing to be a more visible mother instead of overseeing more employees is “holding one’s self back?”
Yes, children can often produce just as many headaches as a day at the office, but the difference is the former can be cured with a hug. Instead of focusing on children as burdens, we should focus on the joy they bring to growing families. The bond between a woman and her child is stronger than any bond she can have with her office cubicle.
This is just one of the differences conservative women seem to understand.
The Washington Post is casting doubt on Brooks' theory, but to some, the writer's research may not be all that surprising – especially considering some liberals nowadays always seem to be angry about something and offended by everything. Whether it’s Chris Matthews yelling at the TV screen every night or left-wing feminists aggressively arguing we "don't need anymore male leaders" and that Republican leadership will somehow roll back women's rights, conservatives are looking friendlier than ever.