data refer to for switzerland unfortunately comparable timeseries on life satisfaction are rare for this reason this section focuses on differences in life satisfaction at one point in time while referring to national studies for getting a sense of how trends in life satisfaction have evolved over time box this pattern is broadly in line with previous research which has shown fairly small gender differences in all age groups diener et al significant differences by gender are found only for employment and health status which are stronger drivers of life satisfaction for women than they are for men boarini et al this is insufficient to identify trends in life satisfaction which are likely to change only at a slow rate recent research has provided evidence of a decline in women s life satisfaction in the united states and across a variety of european countries with western germany being an exception