1

The literature on job satisfaction has shown that, on average, women declare a higher degree of satisfaction than men, even though their working conditions are less attractive. We test this by looking at the effect of gender on doctoral graduates’ satisfaction with the start of their postdoctoral careers, while taking into account the quality of their employment conditions. We show through models with mediation effects that gender has no significant effect, on satisfaction at the start of a postdoctoral career, while working conditions are linked to satisfaction. This suggests that this paradox disappears for higher levels of levels.