Gender Equality, Institutional Contexts, and Subjective Well-Being: A Multilevel Analysis

Keywords Subjective Well-Being, Gender Role Attitudes, Gender Inequality Index, Value Congruence, European Social Survey

1. Introduction and Theoretical Framework

1.1 Redefining Well-Being Across Gender and Ideological Lines
    Subjective well-being (SWB) is understood as a multidimensional concept encompassing mental health, emotional affect, and satisfaction with life and specific domains and data on this domain offer valuable insights into how macro-level institutions, public policies, historical experiences, and social capital shape human welfare, often moving far beyond the explanatory power of economic growth alone (Helliwell, 2003).Beyond individual outcomes, higher levels of well-being contribute to broader societal prosperity by fostering productivity, creativity, cooperation, and longer, healthier lives. However, self-reports are inherently shaped by social norms and gendered institutions (Riva et al., 2019).
    While average levels of happiness and life satisfaction appear superficially similar for women and men, important differences emerge across the life course (Audette et al., 2019). Men and women rely on distinct cognitive sources when evaluating their lives: men place greater emphasis on self-satisfaction, whereas women draw heavily on both self-satisfaction and the quality of close relationships (Schimmack et al., 2008). Literature shows that women consistently report more negative emotions and fewer positive daily experiences than men across countries and over time, even though differences in overall life satisfaction are far less pronounced (Blanchflower & Bryson, 2024). Instead, women tend to be more pessimistic about macro outcomes such as the economy, democracy, and public services as well as their own financial and job prospects, while men exhibit higher rates of “deaths of despair” (Blanchflower & Bryson, 2024). This divergence underscores why empirical models aimed at evaluating well-being must account for the distinct orientations of specific social groups rather than assuming universal, uniform pathways to happiness (Schimmack et al., 2008).

1.2 Gender Equality and Economic Participation
    The broader cultural and structural environment plays a critical role in anchoring individual well-being, carrying profound implications for migration, acculturation, and organizational life (Gebauer et al., 2020). Research consistently shows that higher levels of macro-equality are associated with greater overall happiness, supporting international efforts to expand women’s political representation, leadership opportunities, and economic participation and Because political ideology simultaneously dictates how an individual evaluates life satisfaction and how they perceive gendered labor divisions, adjusting for political orientation is statistically imperative to isolate the true psychological returns of gender role attitudes (Ritchie & Tucker-Drob, 2018).
   Gender equality in education, employment, and political representation also contributes positively to both SWB and the Human Development Index (HDI), with educational equality emerging as the most consistent predictor (Matsuo & Matthys, 2018). However, macro-structural progress does not automatically eliminate well-being deficits. For example, higher female labor-force participation in OECD countries can actually lower SWB when women continue to carry a disproportionate share of unpaid work (Matsuo & Matthys, 2018).
    Similarly, evidence regarding health remains mixed: gender gaps in subjective health vary markedly across Europe and are not consistently smaller in more gender-equal countries, although self-rated health disparities tend to narrow with higher levels of human development. According to Dahlin & Härkönen, unpaid care work and other overlooked inequalities may continue to shape health outcomes even in egalitarian contexts, highlighting the need for more specific policy indicators and attention to regional differences.Institutions do not merely constrain opportunities; they also determine which social identities become psychologically salient. In contexts characterized by persistent gender inequality, attitudes toward gender roles may become more central to individuals’ evaluations of fairness, autonomy, and social belonging.
    Consequently, gender ideology should exert a stronger influence on subjective well-being where institutional inequality remains high. (Dahlin & Härkönen, 2013). Multilevel analyses demonstrate that this relationship is significantly moderated by national gender stratification: in more gender-unequal societies, low-income men face heightened risks of suffering because traditional breadwinner norms intensify the stigma of low earnings. Conversely, for women, gender inequality increases severe ill-being across all income groups, with economic disadvantage further compounding the effect (Araki & Olivos, 2024).
   Labour-market participation reflects the interaction between gender attitudes and institutional contexts. Women with traditional gender-role beliefs, particularly mothers of young children, tend to work fewer hours, although public childcare provision can partially offset this effect (Andringa et al., 2015). At the same time, highly gender-equal societies may generate greater work–family stress, as expectations for balancing paid and unpaid responsibilities are stronger for both women and men (Farrell & Phungsoonthorn, 2020). Cultural and structural barriers further shape these dynamics, especially among religious immigrant women, while urban and rural environments differ substantially in the social norms and institutional support available for non-traditional gender roles (Kanas & Müller, 2021; Andringa et al., 2015). Consequently, work–life fit becomes increasingly important for subjective well-being in more egalitarian societies, where alignment between personal values and institutional arrangements fosters a stronger person–environment fit (Napier et al., 2010; Gebauer et al., 2020). National gender inequality should therefore be understood not only as a direct determinant of well-being, but also as the structural context that conditions the psychological significance of individual gender ideologies.

2. Research Questions and Hypotheses

    This study examines whether the relationship between individual gender role attitudes and life satisfaction depends on national-level gender inequality, using a cross-national multilevel framework. Together, these hypotheses imply a dual-process model in which gender inequality simultaneously depresses average well-being while amplifying the psychological relevance of gender ideology in shaping subjective life evaluations.

–-H1 (Individual-level congruence/identity effect): Individuals expressing more positive attitudes toward equal participation of women and men in paid work will report higher levels of life satisfaction.

–-H2 (Macro Structure): Average life satisfaction will be lower in countries characterized by higher levels of gender inequality.

–-H3 (Cross-Level Salience Effect):The positive association between support for gender equality in paid work and life satisfaction will be stronger in countries characterized by higher levels of gender inequality, as institutional inequality increases the psychological salience of gender norms.

3. Methodology and Research Design

    This study utilizes secondary data from the European Social Survey. To capture macro-level institutional conditions, the individual-level survey data were merged with country-level indicators from the United Nations Development Programme, specifically the Gender Inequality Index (GII).Data preparation followed a systematic cleaning and diagnostic procedure. The cleaned individual dataset was subsequently merged with the Level-2 macro dataset using standardized country identifiers (cntry). The initial merged dataset included 23 countries. After excluding cases without corresponding GII information, the final analytical sample consisted of 24,509 respondents nested within 20 countries.The resulting multilevel structure comprises 20 European countries (Level-2 units).The final analytical sample includes only respondents with complete information at both the individual and country levels, ensuring consistency across all hierarchical linear models.

3.1 Operationalization of Variables and Likert Scale
    The dependent variable, subjective well-being (stflife), was measured using respondents’ self-reported satisfaction with life on an 11-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied). This measure was treated as approximately continuous in the multilevel analyses.The focal individual-level predictor, Attitudes toward Gender Equality in Paid Work (eqwrkbg), were measured using the ESS item: “Bad or good for family life in [country] if equal numbers of women and men are in paid work.” Responses ranged from 0 (very bad) to 6 (very good), with higher scores indicating more positive evaluations of gender equality in employment and family life.
   At the macro level, gender inequality (gii_score) was introduced as the principal contextual moderator. The Gender Inequality Index (GII), obtained from the UNDP, reflects national disparities in reproductive health, political and educational empowerment, and labour-market participation. Scores range from 0, indicating complete gender equality, to 1, indicating maximum inequality.To isolate the association between gender attitudes and life satisfaction, the analysis controlled for a comprehensive set of socio-demographic and ideological confounders. These included respondents’ gender (gndr), age in years (agea), educational attainment (edulvlb), household income decile (hinctnta), religiosity (rlgdgr), political ideology measured on a 0–10 left–right scale (lrscale), and urbanicity or domicile status (domicil).

4. Empirical Strategy

    The modelling strategy proceeds sequentially: first, a null model estimates baseline between-country variance in life satisfaction; second, individual-level gender attitudes and socio-demographic controls are introduced; and finally, a cross-level interaction model incorporates national gender inequality and allows the effect of gender attitudes to vary across countries.

5. Results

##     stflife          eqwrkbg           agea         gii_score      
##  Min.   : 0.000   Min.   :0.000   Min.   :15.00   Min.   :0.01400  
##  1st Qu.: 7.000   1st Qu.:4.000   1st Qu.:38.00   1st Qu.:0.03300  
##  Median : 8.000   Median :5.000   Median :53.00   Median :0.05300  
##  Mean   : 7.413   Mean   :4.687   Mean   :52.26   Mean   :0.06295  
##  3rd Qu.: 9.000   3rd Qu.:6.000   3rd Qu.:67.00   3rd Qu.:0.07300  
##  Max.   :10.000   Max.   :6.000   Max.   :90.00   Max.   :0.20100

##                       Life Sat Gender Att Religiosity Ideology
## 1. Life Satisfaction     1.000      0.010       0.000    0.008
## 2. Gender Attitudes      0.010      1.000       0.007    0.003
## 3. Religiosity           0.000      0.007       1.000    0.030
## 4. Political Ideology    0.008      0.003       0.030    1.000

## 
## Cronbach's alpha for the 'df_final[, c("rlgdgr", "lrscale")]' data-set
## 
## Items: 2
## Sample units: 24509
## alpha: 0.28

## [1] "The Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) is: 0.0779"

## eqwrkbg_c    agea_c   edulvlb  hinctnta  rlgdgr_c lrscale_c domicil_c 
##  1.019240  1.102844  1.053810  1.117679  1.088694  1.045969  1.022578

	Null Model		Main Predictor		With Controls		Interaction Model
Predictors	Estimates	std. Beta	Estimates	std. Beta	Estimates	std. Beta	Estimates	std. Beta
(Intercept)	7.39 *** (-0.01) (0.12)	-0.01 (-0.13 – 0.11) (0.06)	7.39 *** (-0.01) (0.12)	-0.01 (-0.14 – 0.11) (0.06)	6.56 *** (-0.01) (0.12)	-0.01 (-0.13 – 0.11) (0.06)	6.57 *** (-0.01) (0.10)	-0.01 (-0.10 – 0.09) (0.05)
eqwrkbg c			0.15 *** (0.11) (0.01)	0.11 (0.10 – 0.13) (0.01)	0.15 *** (0.11) (0.01)	0.11 (0.09 – 0.12) (0.01)	0.15 *** (0.11) (0.01)	0.11 (0.09 – 0.13) (0.01)
agea c					0.00 *** (0.04) (0.00)	0.04 (0.02 – 0.05) (0.01)	0.00 *** (0.04) (0.00)	0.04 (0.02 – 0.05) (0.01)
edulvlb					0.00 * (0.02) (0.00)	0.02 (0.00 – 0.03) (0.01)	0.00 * (0.02) (0.00)	0.02 (0.00 – 0.03) (0.01)
hinctnta					0.14 *** (0.20) (0.00)	0.20 (0.19 – 0.21) (0.01)	0.14 *** (0.20) (0.00)	0.20 (0.19 – 0.21) (0.01)
rlgdgr c					0.03 *** (0.06) (0.00)	0.06 (0.04 – 0.07) (0.01)	0.03 *** (0.06) (0.00)	0.06 (0.04 – 0.07) (0.01)
lrscale c					0.07 *** (0.08) (0.01)	0.08 (0.07 – 0.09) (0.01)	0.07 *** (0.08) (0.01)	0.08 (0.07 – 0.09) (0.01)
domicil c					0.03 ** (0.02) (0.01)	0.02 (0.01 – 0.03) (0.01)	0.03 ** (0.02) (0.01)	0.02 (0.01 – 0.03) (0.01)
gii score c							-6.59 ** (-0.15) (2.19)	-0.15 (-0.25 – -0.05) (0.05)
eqwrkbg c × gii score c							1.30 *** (0.04) (0.29)	0.04 (0.02 – 0.06) (0.01)
Random Effects
σ2	3.34		3.30		3.13		3.12
τ00	0.28 cntry		0.28 cntry		0.27 cntry		0.18 cntry
τ11							0.00 cntry.eqwrkbg_c
ρ01							-0.81 cntry
ICC	0.08		0.08		0.08		0.06
N	20 cntry		20 cntry		20 cntry		20 cntry
Observations	24509		24509		24509		24509
Marginal R2 / Conditional R2	0.000 / 0.078		0.013 / 0.091		0.061 / 0.135		0.096 / 0.146
AIC	99213.170		98918.164		97671.103		97602.457
p<0.05   ** p<0.01   *** p<0.001

5.1 Gender attitudes and life satisfaction
    The null model reveals non-trivial between-country variation in life satisfaction (ICC ≈ 0.078), indicating that approximately 8% of the variance is attributable to national context. This justifies a multilevel specification and confirms that subjective well-being is partly shaped by macro-level environments.
Introducing individual-level gender attitudes yields a positive and highly robust association with life satisfaction (γ ≈ 0.15, p < .001). Individuals expressing more positive attitudes toward equal participation of women and men in paid work report higher life satisfaction.Egalitarian attitudes increase life satisfaction everywhere, but their importance becomes stronger when gender inequality is high.

5.2 Adjustment for individual-level covariates
    Controlling for socio-demographic and ideological characteristics does not substantively alter the effect of gender attitudes (γ ≈ 0.15, p < .001). Among covariates, household income emerges as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, followed by religiosity and political ideology, while age, education, and gender show comparatively smaller effects. Importantly, the stability of the focal coefficient suggests that the association between gender attitudes and life satisfaction is not driven by compositional confounding.

5.3 Macro context and cross-level moderation
    At the country level, higher gender inequality is associated with significantly lower average life satisfaction (γ ≈ −6.60, p < .01). However, this relationship is contingent: the interaction between gender attitudes and gender inequality is positive and statistically significant (γ ≈ 1.31, p < .001). Instead, it becomes more pronounced in societies characterized by greater gender inequality. In more unequal environments, individual attitudes toward gender roles appear more tightly linked to subjective well-being, suggesting stronger alignment or tension between personal values and institutional structures.

6. Model Evaluation and Diagnostics

    Model fit improves systematically across specifications, as shown by reductions in AIC/BIC and likelihood ratio tests. The full cross-level interaction model provides the best fit to the data. Explained variance increases from a marginal R² of approximately 0.01 in the baseline specification to about 0.10 in the full model, with conditional R² reaching approximately 0.15, indicating meaningful but incomplete explanatory power and persistent unobserved heterogeneity. Overall, the model exhibits strong statistical stability, acceptable distributional properties, and consistent substantive interpretation across specifications.A multilevel logistic specification using a dichotomized life satisfaction outcome confirms the direction and significance of all key effects. The consistency of results across functional forms reinforces the robustness of the findings.

7. Discussion

7.1 Summary of key findings
    Three main findings emerge. First, individuals holding more egalitarian gender attitudes report higher life satisfaction, net of socio-demographic and ideological controls. Second, countries with higher levels of gender inequality exhibit lower average subjective well-being. Third, and most importantly, the relationship between gender attitudes and life satisfaction is conditional on the broader institutional context, becoming stronger in more gender-unequal societies.

8. Interpreting the cross-level interaction

    The central contribution of this study lies in the observed cross-level interaction between gender attitudes and national inequality. The results suggest a more complex dual-process structure. On the one hand, the negative association between national gender inequality and life satisfaction is consistent with institutional accounts of well-being, which argue that unequal societies generate lower overall quality of life through reduced opportunities, weaker social protections, and constrained autonomy. On the other hand, the finding that egalitarian attitudes are more strongly associated with life satisfaction in highly unequal contexts indicates that institutional environments do not merely shape average levels of well-being, but also condition the psychological relevance of individual values.
This pattern is best understood as the coexistence of two mechanisms: value congruence and value salience. In egalitarian contexts, gender norms are partially institutionalized and therefore less psychologically contested, reducing the behavioral and emotional consequences of holding specific gender beliefs. In contrast, in more unequal societies, gender norms become more visible and socially consequential, increasing the extent to which individual attitudes are embedded in daily evaluations of fairness, identity, and social positioning.
    These findings refine existing theories of person–environment fit by demonstrating that institutional context not only determines whether values are aligned with social structures but also how strongly those values are experienced in everyday psychological life. Rather than producing a uniform “happiness premium” for egalitarian attitudes, gender inequality appears to amplify the cognitive and emotional significance of gender ideology itself. These findings are consistent with identity-based perspectives on subjective well-being, suggesting that institutional environments shape not only behavioural constraints but also the salience of value-related beliefs.The findings suggest that individuals who view equal participation of women and men in paid work as beneficial for family life tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction. This association may reflect broader commitments to egalitarian values, perceptions of fairness, and greater alignment with contemporary social norms.

9.Limitations

    Several limitations should be noted. The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference and leaves open the possibility of reverse causality. Measurement limitations include reliance on single-item indicators for gender attitudes and potential cross-cultural differences in response scales. Despite these constraints, the multilevel structure substantially reduces bias stemming from macro-level confounding.Moreover, the study operationalizes gender ideology through a single labour-market item, which may not fully capture broader beliefs regarding family roles, caregiving responsibilities, or political gender equality. Future research should employ multidimensional measures of gender attitudes to assess whether these patterns generalize across distinct domains of gender ideology.

10.Conclusion     This study demonstrates that subjective well-being is jointly shaped by individual gender attitudes and national gender inequality. Egalitarian beliefs are associated with higher life satisfaction, while more gender-unequal societies exhibit lower average levels of well-being.The findings suggest that understanding subjective well-being requires moving beyond purely individual explanations and considering how institutional environments shape the meaning and consequences of personal values.
    Importantly, the relationship between gender attitudes and life satisfaction is context-dependent, becoming stronger in more unequal environments. These findings support a dual-process interpretation: structural gender inequality reduces overall well-being while simultaneously increasing the psychological significance of gender ideology for individual life evaluations. Subjective well-being therefore emerges not only from material and institutional conditions, but also from the interaction between personal values and broader social contexts. Overall, the results highlight the importance of integrating micro-level attitudes with macro-level institutions when studying well-being and social change, demonstrating that the consequences of gender ideology depend fundamentally on the environments in which individuals live.



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Checklist
☑ Sample Description and Descriptive Statistics Reported

☑ Likert Scale Data Handling and Variable Operationalization Explained

☑ Regression Assumptions Verified (Residual Normality and Heteroscedasticity Diagnostics)

☑ Cross-Level Moderation Analysis Conducted and Interpreted

☑ Logistic Regression (GLM) Robustness Check Included

☑ Multilevel Regression Modelling Applied to Hierarchically Structured Data ☑ Tables and Figures Presented According to Reporting Standards

☑ Mediation Analysis (Not Applicable; the study focuses on moderation rather than mediation)