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Something lighter:

Once upon a time, in a land far away, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog as she sat contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle.

The frog hopped into the princess' lap and said:

"Elegant Lady, I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper, young prince that I am and then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in your castle with my mother, where you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and forever feel grateful and happy doing so. "

That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on lightly sauteed frog legs seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce she chuckled and thought to herself: “I don't freakin’ think so.”

I and I know my mother relate to this. Women are still expected to do the raising of children and keeping house and being a good wife and partner as well as working if they desire or need to. And while it is true that men are slowly taking on more domestic responsibilities, I have to say it is very slowly. However, I think womens' unhappiness results a lot from the "thinking", but I believe the root of this thinking is not "introspection" but more about anxiety. Women are judged by men, but oftentimes they are judged more harshly by the women in their lives, and thus in attempting to fulfill all the expectations and pressures from both men and women, women are more stressed, more anxious, and more depressed.

There is an obvious side to this conclusion about the happiness gap. Women are far more penalized for aging. So men have better perspectives of enjoyment as life progresses

I think part of the problem is that women don't support each other. I have two school age children and I have been amazed at how suspicious the stay at home moms are of the working moms, and the working moms are of the stay at home moms. I think this goes to the question of the expectations and limitless possibilities women now face. No matter what choice you make you feel as if you are being judged as well as missing out. I think the fact is that we can't do it all but that is the expectation. I wish I had an answer.
Thanks for your program.

the answer is thinking. Americans are happier than Europeans. Europeans think more. men are happier then women because women think about life more. Europeans and women are more introspective then Americans and men.

Hi Brian,
I am not a woman, but I teach an essay writing course at Columbia. Last year, my students wrote essays in response to an essay by Barbara Ehrenreich entitled "Maid to Order." Many of my freshmen women expressed deep anxiety and frustration over the fact that women's roles have expanded into the professional world yet we still expect them, whether they are students or mothers, to perform traditional women's roles in the home and socially. My students seemed to experience this as a real, perhaps un-winnable, conflict and double-standard because the expectations of men's roles have not expanded to include domesticity.

Drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants? Because this will make the streets safer? Let me get this straight: Right now, illegal immigrants drive without licenses because they have an economic need to get to work sites. Some are qualified drivers and some are not. If they are permitted to get licenses, will the unqualified drivers cease to drive? Of course, not! They drive illegally now because they have an economic need to and they will continue to drive illegally because they will continue to have this same economic need. Obviously, the desire to allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses is simply a backdoor means to provide documentation. Your failure to parse this very simple situation and pose the right questions instead of letting your guests beat around the bush reveals your own bias that you aren't honest enough to explicitly express on your show.

How about this: women have become more sexually liberated and pursue and fulfill their sexual desires/needs nowadays and so men are happy with that, however women are finding out that these guys are really not so "great" as they might have thought or are led to believe as when it was just a fantasy!! LOL

Listen all you need to know about this is that: "Ignorance is bliss" What you dont know can make you happier than what you would know.
Remember the episode of the Simpsons' where Homer stuck a crayon up his nose to revert to being a dumbkoff than remain cognizant and severly unhappy?