Gender equality and life satisfaction: A mediation model with individual autonomy, income per capita and trust

Gender equality has been found to positively affect life satisfaction. However, the reason why gender equality affects life satisfaction remains relatively unexplored. In this paper, we hypothesize three mediators for this relationship: individual autonomy, income per capita, and generalized trust. All three variables have been found to positively affect life satisfaction. We argue that each mediator may, in turn, depend positively on gender equality, suggesting that individual autonomy, income per capita, and generalized trust positively mediate the relationship between gender equality and life satisfaction. Using a sample of 81 countries from 1990 to 2020, we find that individual autonomy and income per capita are important channels that together explain 98% of the total relationship between gender equality and life satisfaction. While the mediation effect of individual autonomy is robust, the significance of income per capita is less consistent when using alternative estimation techniques. For generalized trust we do not find evidence of mediation.