Between leadership and care: Structural, cultural, and relational factors shaping women's work–life balance in academia

Women's representation in academic leadership remains low across Indonesia, including in Jakarta and West Java. Although structural and cultural barriers to women's advancement are well established, less is known about how women leaders sustain work–life balance (WLB) within these constraints. This study examines how family support, technological intervention, networking, mentoring, and solidarity, leadership practices, and gender relations shape women's WLB. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, this study combines survey data from 437 women and men academics in Jakarta and West Java with 47 in-depth interviews. Quantitative analysis employing PLS-SEM demonstrated that family support and technological intervention were consistent, positive contributors to WLB for both women and men. Networking, mentoring, solidarity, and leadership practices mattered specifically for women, although formal comparisons across gender groups showed that these differences were not statistically robust. Gender relations were not significantly associated with WLB in either group. Qualitative findings nevertheless revealed that women continued to encounter subtle, informal gender bias within ostensibly inclusive institutions, while sustaining WLB through renegotiated household roles, relational support, adaptive leadership, and collective agency. Similar levels of WLB may thus be produced through different gendered arrangements, highlighting the importance of institutional policies that address not only formal equality but also the relational, domestic, and organizational conditions shaping women's leadership and well-being.