Family-to-Work Facilitation, Sex, and Gender: A Sample of University Employees

Challenging the assumption that work and family are incompatible, a growing number of studies have focused on the positive relationships between these two roles. The exploratory study described in this paper aimed to examine whether family characteristics (i.e., taking responsibility for childcare, child-related issues, and household chores) are associated with family-to-work facilitation (FWF). Using data from two major state universities in Ankara (n = 447), we examined the family-to-work-facilitation of full-time employees (both male and female) with children. The findings of the study indicate that women experience FWF more than men, considering all the independent variables. Moreover, FWF (including time and psychology-based FWF) was higher for women than that of men. The relationship between FWF and taking responsibility for childcare, children, and household chores was found to be statistically significant by sex. The time and psychology-based FWF of women who stated that “their husbands were largely responsible” for childcare and child-related matters were higher than those of men. Furthermore, the psychology-based FWF of women who stated that “they and their husbands were equally responsible” for childcare and child-related matters were higher than that of males who gave the same answer. The women who hired help for household tasks had more FWF and psychological-based FWF than men. The findings are discussed within the framework of sex, gender, and the limited related literature, and directions for future research are suggested.