PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the critical roles of emotional intelligence, increasing job demands behaviour and subjective well-being in teachers' performance throughout their gender.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors used multi-group structural equation modelling and mediation analysis of a sample of 602 primary school teachers in Iran.FindingsThis study found that emotional intelligence significantly affected teachers' performance. Teachers' emotional intelligence and increasing job demands behaviour were significant predictors of teacher performance in both genders. Furthermore, increasing job demand behaviour had a stronger mediating effect than subjective well-being on the relationship between emotional intelligence and teachers' performance in both genders.Originality/valueThis model is an attempt to examine possible gender differences on the relationships between teachers' emotional intelligence and their job performance by mediating roles of subjective well-being and increasing job demands behaviours in a specific societal and educational context.