European women: The link between money, career, and financial satisfaction

This study goes beyond economic research on women's economic independence, which relies only on income in explaining women's economic well-being within a household, and adopts a perspective that recognizes the importance of their actual employment patterns and occupational choices (Gerson, 1993, Hakim, 2000). Using the data on financial satisfaction from the European Community Household Panel from 1994-2001, this article compares married and cohabiting women from five industrialized European countries. Analyses indicate that it is not relative income or pure employment that matters the most for a woman's financial satisfaction but, more likely, the choice of continuous and full-time labour market involvement. The data also offer other interesting findings: a homemaking career may be as beneficial for a woman's financial satisfaction as continuous employment, while a discontinuous employment path seems to be detrimental for a woman's financial satisfaction. Cross-country comparison shows that institutions alter women's economic well-being independently of their individual achievements, suggesting that more research is needed to disentangle the institutional components that most influence the relation between women's paid and unpaid employment, and their economic well-being. © 2013 The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.