EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF WORK LIFE BALANCE ON WOMEN ACADEMIC CAREER GROWTH IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN KWARA STATE

OLUWAYOMI OMOTAYO OLOTA; FALILAT AJOKE ABDUL; GANIYU TAIWO OLADIPO; HAUWAU BELLO

OLUWAYOMI OMOTAYO OLOTA Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Ilorin.
FALILAT AJOKE ABDUL Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Ilorin.
GANIYU TAIWO OLADIPO Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Ilorin.
HAUWAU BELLO Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Ilorin.

Keywords: Work-life balance, women, academic career, duration of work, family size, paternity leave

Abstract

In the past, women were confined to their husband’s home taking care of household responsibilities but with the advent of industrialization, women role has drastically increased. These new roles create an imbalance in one domain. The study investigated work-life balance among female academicians in selected universities in Kwara state. The populations of female lecturers were 204 out of which 135sample size. A structured questionnaire was used as an instrument of data collection. The findings of this study discovered that 1) the relationship between management support and women career advancement is significant since the alpha level of 0.05 is greater than the p-value of 0.000 2) the relationship between childcare and working mother’s commitment is significant since the alpha level of 0.05 is greater than the p-value of 0.000 3) the correlation coefficient gives (r=0.792) meaning that there is a perfect positive relationship between flexible workings hours and job engagement of working mother. The special findings of the research are that majority of the female lecturers of selected universities in Kwara don’t have career plans and career orientation. This study recommends the use of paternity leave by spouse immediately affect their wives gives birth to increase spouse support, increase managerial/organizational support in term of implementing work-life balance policies, provision of childcare facilities at the workplace would help working mothers put their mind at rest and improve their commitment, implementation of flexible working to increase their engagement and commitment to the organization.