Based on two studies (N= 95,312) with full-time working married individuals across U.S. and U.K., this paper explores whether being head of the household leads to lower job satisfaction for married women but not for married men. In Study 1 (N=15,890), we use a cross-sectional survey of working adults in the U.S. and show that women who are Household Heads (HH) reported lower job satisfaction compared to men who are HH as well as compared to women who are not HH. We also find that this decline in women household heads’ job satisfaction happens due to them perceiving an increase in the financial difficulty (and not the actual financial difficulty) as compared to married men. Study 2 (N=79,422) utilizes a longitudinal survey in the U.K. and replicates the result of study 1. Since, for the longitudinal survey, the same individuals were interviewed over the years, we could track job satisfaction in different years under different conditions. Study 2 builds upon Study 1 as we perform an event study analysis to test the temporal persistence of the negative effect on job satisfaction after becoming the HH for married men and women. In both study 1 and study 2, we eliminate alternative mechanisms for the observed effects that yields support for our theory. We also performed several robustness checks to show that the results hold in different contexts and are not affected by other relevant variables such as co-habitation, differences in household income of women versus men headed households, family to work conflict etc. Our study has important implications for research on gender differences in job satisfaction by showing one important condition under which women’s job satisfaction declines.