Heart's Desire
Yet another study correlates self-employment with favorable health and wellness—for women in particular.
It’s hard to keep track of all the various studies, polls and reports about independent contracting that have come out in the past decade. I update this page on the Fight For Freelancers website with links to new research whenever I see it come across my screen. There are about 80 studies with links on that page now.
Quite a few of the findings about independent contracting in the modern workforce are specific to women. Independent contracting works well for a lot of us gals, especially in terms of physical and mental health:
Indeed found that 48% of women who switched to contract work reported improved mental health, and of the women who changed to gig work, one-third (38%) reported improved mental health.
GrowTal/Opinium reported that 72% of women freelancers say their overall mental wellbeing has improved since freelancing.
Freshbooks Cloud Accounting determined that 59% of self-employed women say they have less stress, and 57% of self-employed women say they’re healthier.
From the medical field, there was this 2022 study by UCLA Health researchers:
“The researchers found that self-employed women had a 43% lower risk of reporting high blood pressure, a 34% lower risk of reporting obesity, and a 30% lower risk of reporting diabetes compared to women who work for a salary or wages. Self-employed women were also more likely to report exercise and a lower body mass index.”
Now comes yet another study about self-employed women and health.
BMC Public Health just published a cross-sectional analysis exploring the relationship between self-employment and cardiovascular disease.
The results:
“We found that self-employment was associated with a favorable CVD risk profile among women, particularly non-minority women.”
Yet again, we have a study that adds to an undeniable pile of evidence, all of it making it quite easy to believe this eye-popping statistic from AARP:
“The vast majority of women (98%) agreed that they made the right decision in starting their business.”
The AARP didn’t ask me what I think, but I count myself among that 98% of women who believe we made the right choice in being our own bosses.
As I look back over my working years today, having just turned 53 years old, I can honestly say that going freelance was the best decision I ever made for my career, health and life.
Where Would You Feel Better?
I can think of two photographs that most people can relate to about why it feels so much better being an independent contractor than being an employee.
This is what I used to see for at least an hour or two every day, trying to get through traffic en route to and from my early-career traditional employee jobs at newspapers and magazines:
This is what I have seen during those hours each day since I went freelance in 2003, now that I’m able to use that time for walks in the local parks:
I’ll bet you can actually feel your blood pressure dropping when you look at that second photograph.
You can intuit the reduced risk of obesity and diabetes.
It’s easy to understand the overall improvement in mental wellbeing.
Women, of course, are not alone among independent contractors who say we prefer to be self-employed. When only 8% of self-employed Americans say they would rather have a traditional job, the data is clearly talking about men and women alike.
But women do often have different, or additional, reasons compared to men for wanting to be self-employed. A number of polls and studies have talked about it, but Gallup, I think, stated it most succinctly in 2024:
“Fifty-two percent of women who want to start a business list the desire for a more flexible work schedule as one of their main reasons for wanting to start a business, compared with 38% of men who want to start a business.”
That desire for a more flexible schedule, according to other studies, may be because of family caregiving needs that typically fall to women, such as watching over little kids or helping aging parents. It may also be because of an overbearing boss. According to Fiverr, going freelance helped women (26% versus 15% of men) escape an unpleasant or toxic work environment—something that contributes to mental and physical health, even if that’s not how the question in the research is phrased.
In a nation that spends the most but ranks the lowest among high-income nations when it comes to our health, everything we can do to live healthier lives is a step in the right direction.
Our local, state and federal governments should be making it easier, not harder, to choose independent contracting. Lawmakers of every party should be on the majority side of what is, in fact, an 80/20 issue in our society, as yet another new poll, this one from Independent Women’s Forum, recently found.
IWF didn’t ask my opinion, either, but I’m firmly with their majority, too.
And now, I’m going out for a walk with my dog. There’s no boss on this planet who can stop me.