Women Expatriates
Women Expatriates: Why are there so few in the workplace?
Ashwini Joshua-Gojer
University of North Texas
Address: 3014 S. Abingdon St., C-1, Arlington VA 22206
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 940-390-4870
(WIP submission)
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Women Expatriates
Abstract
The explosion of global businesses has seen a rise in the research of cross cultural issues. One of
the issues deals with expatriates. Much of the literature that has delved into expatriates in general
is with reference to male expatriates. Earlier mention of women in expatriate literature referred
to the spouses of expatriates, and not female expatriates sent for assignments abroad. The early
1990s saw the mention of female expatriates. While there are few comprehensive literature
reviews about women expatriates in general, this paper attempts to condense the literature
dealing specifically with the under representation of women expatriates in the global workforce.
It explores reasons for the same. Last, but not the least, it enumerates on solutions to increase
women’s representation in the expatriate workforce and gives suggestions for future research.
Keywords: women expatriates, female expatriates.
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Women Expatriates
Women expatriates in the global workforce
The internationalization of businesses has seen an explosion in research on cross-cultural
research, and a focus in general on expatriates. From the recent increase in research on female
expatriates, it is clear that there is an important and timely need for further investigation of this
topic (Strout, 2001; Guthrie, Ash & Stevens, 2003; Selmer & Leung, 2003; Altman & Shortland,
2008). Caligiuri and Colakoglu (2007) indicate that the future of multinational corporate
competitiveness is contingent on corporations’ ability to adapt to an increasingly global business
environment, and that expatriation is an important HR practice. However, studies and surveys
indicate that the women continue to make up a small percentage of expatriates (Feltes &
Steinhaus, 1998; Casison & Steinauer, 2001).
Glass ceiling is the term given to the invisible barrier between women and the executive
suite, preventing them from reaching higher in the corporate ladder despite their merits and
achievements (Forster, 1999; Gedro, 2010). McDonald & Hite (1998) refer to the ‘glass ceiling’
as a ‘pervasive corporate phenomenon’. This term is relabeled in international management as
the ‘glass border’, coined by Mandelker (1994) to denote the persistent under-representation of
women in international assignments and the resulting lack of women in senior management
positions.
Purpose of this paper
There are very few reviews that have condensed literature detailing women expatriates
(Altman & Shortland, 2008). Even those take into account the broader concept of female
expatriation referencing the topic in its entirety. This review attempts to condense a particular
section of the literature available to find a probable gap where further research can be
concentrated on. Specifically this review explores the reasons for women’s minimal
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Women Expatriates
representation among expatriates worldwide. There needed to be a time period at which to look
at. This study chose to look at the post- 1980s, after Adler’s ground breaking article asking
“women in international management, where are they?” (Adler, 1979; Adler, 1984).
The major research question that will be answered in this review is ‘Why are there few
expatriate women in the workforce?’ The answer to this question is imperative in my opinion so
that appropriate steps can be taken towards solving the problem.
Methodology
This review focused on published research on expatriates. I was looking at all bodies of
research that included women expatriates. Expatriates are defined as individuals who relocate
from one country to the other for at least one year (Littrell, Salas, Hess, Paley & Riedel, 2006).
Searches were conducted for research articles and dissertations in scholarly journals using
electronic databases including ERIC, PsycInfo, PsycARTICLES, Digital Dissertations, ABI
Inform, and Psychology and Behavior Sciences Collection. The reference list for the articles
found was also looked at and relevant articles from there were also looked up. Keywords used
included “female expatriates” and “women expatriates”. The criteria for selecting articles were
that they report results dealing with expatriation of women and other issues related to the
expatriation, including recruitment of female expatriates, training of female expatriates,
demographics of expatriation, female expatriate experiences, etc. The articles that turned up in
the initial search were further sorted and classified in terms of those that dealt exclusively with
women or female expatriates, and those that compared male and female expatriates.
Women expatriates: the historical perspective
Historically, the concept of female expatriates arose with the publication of Adler’s 1979
article ‘Women as androgynous managers: A conceptualization of the potential for American
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Women Expatriates
women in international management’. It was the first seminal article that was followed by others.
Many research articles in the early 1980s did not find references to women executives in
international business (Izraeli, Banai & Zeira, 1980) and it was not until the mid and late 1980s
that women were even discussed with regards to the management ranks of business (Schwartz,
1989; Feltes & Steinhaus, 1998).
Reasons for under-representation.
If one were to discuss numbers, a Windham International expatriate survey in 1998
reported that women made up 15 percent of the expatriate population (Dolins, 1998). The
numbers since then have steadily increased and studies have been making note of that (Taylor,
Napier & Mayerhofer, 2002). The 11th annual Global Relocation Trends Survey found that
women accounted for 23 percent of the international assignees in 2005, up 5 percent from their
2004 survey (GMAC Global Relocation Services, 2006). However, by far the percentage of
women expatriates is still lower when compared to the number of women working in the
workforce. A review of the literature found the following reasons pointing to why there were
fewer women in the expatriate workforce: companies’ refusal to send women, lack of social
support and/or spousal adjustment, lack of female representation at the executive level, gender
based stereotypes, host country perspectives, lack of role models and last but not the least,
female self perception as a barrier to international careers.
Company’s refusal to send women.
Findings have confirmed companies’ reluctance to send women abroad on international
assignments (Adler, 1984, Selmer & Leung, 2003, Olsen & Martins, 2009). Strout (2001) claims
that most of the reasons for which women are not sent on international assignments are myths,
the most prominent one being that they are not as willing or interested as men (Adler, 1984,
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Women Expatriates
1987, 1993, 1994; Hill & Tillery, 1992; Tung, 1998). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 granted
women workplace protection. However, it wasn’t until Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1991
was passed that these protections became relevant to all American citizens working abroad for
US owned firms (Feltes, Robinson & Fink, 1993).
Host country perspectives.
The major cause claimed by firms for not sending women on international assignments
was host country perceptions of women. This is especially true if the host country is culturally
hostile towards women, and has local customs that create gender barriers even though it might
not be an overt law. This is also true if women are performing roles that are traditionally viewed
as male roles. But Adler (1993, 1994, 2002) suggests that female expatriates are first identified
as members of cultural or national groups that may not necessarily be evaluated as socially
inferior. Varma, Toh & Budhwar (2006) found in their empirical study that female U.S.
expatriates to India were categorized less than male expatriates, implying that female expatriates
from the U.S. were preferred by Indian HCNs, as co-workers, significantly more than male
expatriates from the U.S.
While these studies and researches show favorable response to female expatriates, there
are others that contribute to empirical evidence of negative stereotypes of female managers held
in certain cultures (Selmer, Kang & Wright, 1994; Owen & Scherer, 2002, Insch, McIntyre &
Napier, 2008).
Lack of social support and/or spousal adjustment.
An exploratory study by Punnett, Crocker & Stevens (1992) revealed that women
expatriates could adjust and perform better if their organizations considered the role of their
spouses in the expatriation process. They state that the spouses studied considered their own
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Women Expatriates
careers as more transportable. The inference is that women whose spouses have less
transportable careers or who are less willing to go with them due to lack of company support
may have found the expatriate experience more difficult. Insch, McIntyre & Napier (2008) state
that executive women do not benefit as much as men from spousal support in general. Empirical
studies also show that refusal of the spouse to go abroad and/or children of school age are
equally important to both genders and are important reasons for turning down a foreign
assignment (Kollinger, 2005). They also indicate that companies use the argument of culturally
‘tough’ or ‘difficult’ countries to legitimize their own prejudices against female expatriates.
Gender based stereotypes.
Organizations are aware that career development of employees leads to improved
efficiency, profitability, corporate growth and, maybe even the survival of the firm. Firms
increasingly depend on better use and development of employee talent (Walker, 1973). They
therefore incorporate corporate career development activities consisting of corporate policies and
human resource practices designed to enhance career effectiveness of employees, and indirectly
improve organizational effectiveness (Collings, Scullion & Morley, 2007). The scarcity of
women in international management has historically been attributed to factors outside the home
country organization, the same reasons Strout (2001) lists are myths. Harris (1998) states that the
real cause for the paucity of women in international management may stem from organizations’
prejudiced human resource practices.
There is no dearth of studies listing significant differences among men and women with
regards to availability of resources, support, development and promotional opportunities
ultimately depriving women of organizational success (Selmer & Leung, 2003; Minter, 2008).
These drawbacks progressively get worse when it comes to international management. Empirical
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Women Expatriates
studies have shown that sex role stereotyping may still be a problem for women on international
assignments (Stroh, Varma & Valy-Durbin, 2000; Mayerhofer & Scullion, 2002). Linehan and
Scullion (2001) identified both overt and covert barriers preventing female managers from
progressing to senior managerial positions in domestic and international management. These
barriers include the obligation to balance home life and career, isolation and loneliness,
constantly being aware of being a woman in a man’s world, having to prove themselves to
others, and having to work harder and be better than their male counterparts.
Insch, McIntyre & Napier (2008) also suggest that in keeping with Byrne’s 1971 similar
attraction theory, top-level corporate culture is dominated by older, white, heterosexual males
who tend to promote people who look, think, and act like them. Hence, women leaders must
either fight or adapt to withstand the prejudicial attitudes that a heavily male oriented culture
promotes. They also document a survey that found that a major contributor to women leaving
Fortune 500 jobs is the corporate culture
Lack of role models.
Linehan & Scullion (2001) found that women felt that the glass ceiling in their home
countries was a contributory factor to the low participation rate of women in international
management. They also found that respondents listed lack of mentoring and networking
relationships as among the most significant barriers facing women managers in their pursuit of
careers in international management. Mentoring is consistently associated with an upward
career path and access to top management positions (Hunt & Michael, 1983; Baugh & Sullivan,
2005). This mentoring relationship extends to success in expatriation selection, assignment, and
performance (Harvey, Buckley, Novicevic, & Wiese, 1999; Mayerhofer & Scullion, 2002;
Crocitto, Sullivan & Carraher, 2005; Carraher, Sullivan & Crocitto, 2008). The lack of senior-
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Women Expatriates
level women managers with international experience severely limits the availability of women
mentors for lower level female managers.
Female self perception.
Another prominent reason for fewer female expatriates is one that is unique and more
related to the expatriate herself, rather than external factors. Fischlmayr (2002) reported that
while stereotypical beliefs and attitudes contributed to women not being sent abroad for
international assignments, their own thinking also hindered them to a certain extent. This
included behaving according to stereotypical expectations, underestimation of their positions,
and support of traditional role models. Women exhibit low self-confidence and surprisingly,
while being aware of their own stereotypical, traditional role behavior, do little to change the
situation and remain passive victims.
Female emancipation or male indifference?
Lastly, there needs to be a mention of the criticisms with regards to the increase in female
expatriates attributed to a changing or progressive workplace. While many studies and surveys
have indicated a steady rise in the percentage of female expatriates, researches have attributed it
to a more encompassing workplace, and women steadily being included in higher management at
work (Wirth, 2002). This would imply that being part of higher management would lead them to
be considered for international assignments. There are a few studies that agree otherwise.
Adler (1994) introduced the notion that women and men expatriates had a different set of
skills that are particularly useful for management abroad. Hofbauer and Fischlmayr (2004) claim
that this led to negative stereotypes being replaced by positive ones. They state that there are
political risks and theoretical flaws inherent in the notion of ‘female skills’. They also argue that
international assignments should be viewed as social practices that are embedded in gendered
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Women Expatriates
power relations. In order to guarantee the functionality and efficiency of their organizations,
decision makers seem to avoid challenging the existing power distribution between men and
women.
There is a slow change which includes women being appointed to positions where men
are rare or absent. Expatriation might be a field that is losing its charm for employees interested
in senior management positions. There are also other changes that have come about in the
international business arena. Mayerhofer, Hartmann, Michelitsch-Riedl and Kollinger (2004)
highlight the frequency of alternative types of international assignments which are classified as
‘short-term’, ‘commuter’, or ‘frequent flyer’ assignments. These are referred to as flexpatriate
assignments, simply put, flexible expatriation without relocation. Forster (1999) found clear
evidence that women are still in more junior management positions when compared to men. This
issue will be discussed shortly under future research directions.
Summary and Conclusions
The purpose of this review is to compile literature to find out why there are fewer women
expatriates. In the light of the findings, following are a few steps that can be taken to better the
situation. There needs to be awareness of prejudice and bias against women in international
business, companies need to offer more support for expatriate families as whole, including
appropriate pre-departure and post-arrival training to help acclimate to the culture and to avoid
culture shock. Women being sent to culturally ‘difficult’ or ‘tough’ countries need to undergo
training to prepare them for their assignment. There needs to be a mentoring network in place for
women expatriates. Studies have shown that adjustment was easier for the women as they grew
older and spent more time in the host country. The sharing of those experiences can put many
novice female expatriates at ease and make their adjustment process smoother. Last but
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Women Expatriates
definitely not least, women should be trained to appear more self-confident and to emphasize
their skills and competencies in the selection process.
Implications for Human Resource Management
Literature already indicates that female expatriates are generally successful in their global
assignments (Caliguiri and Tung, 1999; Napier and Taylor, 2002; Tung, 2004; Collings, Scullion
& Morley, 2007). Future research can concentrate on the factors that make women expatriates
successful. Secondly, most of the research is North American based, with a few European
empirical studies. While there are a few articles about female expatriates in Far East Asia and
Southeast Asia, there is a dearth of literature in this area delving on Africa. Thirdly, there can be
a comparison of female expatriates in different cultures to study adjustment and success versus
failure in different cultures. Fourthly, studies can be conducted to see if women are selected to be
‘flexpatriates’ more than expatriates. Last, but not the least, research is required to see if
expatriation is indeed waning, reducing its attraction to male expatriates and indirectly leading to
the recruitment of more women expatriates.
The review examined the concept of female expatriates and reasons for their underrepresentation in international business. It is very clearly seen that despite a whole generation
passing since the first article on women expatriates being published, a constantly
demographically changing workplace leaves much more to be explored in this context.
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