Gender disparity in work-family balance in academia: a study in the Sri Lankan university context

This article attempts to analyse the work-family balance of male and female academics in Sri Lankan universities, in view of the dearth of research on the gendered nature of work-family balance in academia. This study examines gender differences in work-family balance in academia. With the purpose of accomplishing the aforesaid objective, a survey was conducted with 63 male and 63 female university academics of Management Faculties in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Colombo, University of Kelaniya and University of Ruhuna. The sample was selected based on the cluster sampling technique. Further, the work-family balance was measured along three dimensions, namely, time balance, involvement balance and satisfaction balance. An independent sample t-test was used for the purpose of data analysis. The results show that there is a significant difference in time balance, involvement balance and work-family balance between male and female academics. However, there is no statistically significant difference in satisfaction balance between male and female academics of the selected sample. Especially, social support may create a balance between work and family life for women academics in Sri Lanka.