by Wilfred Okiche

Forget what you previously believed.

A new study published in the Journal of Family Psychology has revealed that women who are working have happier homes, with the hardest working women, enjoying the happiest homes.

The study observed 169 couples over the course of 4 years, measuring parameters such as changes in workload, marital satisfaction, degree of job satisfaction and presence or absence of children. Results compiled showed that as the woman’s workload increased, so did the couples’ marital happiness.

This result mocks the widely held belief that career women and working mothers are mostly harassed, easily irritable and have miserable family lives.

Forbes contributor, Vanessa Van Petten, in trying to make sense of the study, suggested 4 possible explanations why working women could have happier homes than their housewife counterparts. They are:

1. A successful career is a solid source for self-confidence. Women who are busier at work feel better about themselves, and therefore better about their marriage. It is possible that as women get busy and take on more responsibility in their career, their self-esteem increases, which then makes them feel better about their marriage.
2. Husbands stepped in at home and showed their dependability. The researchers in charge of the study also suggested that when women are busier at work, husbands tend to help out more at home. This shows women that their husbands are dependable, even when it comes to domestic matters.
3. An even level of busy-ness balances out the power dynamic. When women are busy at work, and their husbands are also busy at work, it makes the power dynamic in the relationship feel more equal. Inequality in relationships is a major source of unhappiness. If both spouses are busy, there is a level of equality in the relationship.
4. The daily separation brings a couple together. Spouses have more quality time even though they might not have quantity time. The old phrase, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” definitely applies here. When a wife is busier at work and sees her husband less, she appreciates him more when she does see him. The same goes vice versa, and therefore leads to more and better quality time.

There you have it! But most importantly, do you agree? sound off in the comment box below.