MSc IN iNTERNATIONAL mANAGEMENT | Under-representation of female expatriates | The issues and barriers | | OC1BBS | 02/11/15 | MBA 7020 - Research and Study Skills | Dr. Emily Fenclova |

|

George Ritzer and Paul Dean (2014), both writers and professors at U.S. Universities, said: “Globalization is increasingly omnipresent. In fact, globalization is of such great importance that the era in which we live should be labeled the global age” (p. 2). It is undisputable that the “global age” has opened up new opportunities for the companies to engage in international business (Taylor and Napier, 1996). According to Charles Vance and Yongsun Paik (2001), business leaders have been increasingly acknowledging the on-going global activity and the possible benefits associated with entering the global market (Linehan and Scullion, 2001). Consequently, it is more and more common for the employees of multinational corporations (MNCs) to spend time working in foreign countries on international assignments (Guthrie et al., 2003; Kollinger, 2005). For the purpose of this essay, the terms “international assignment” and “expatriate work” will be used interchangeably.
Many scholars, as well as business people now realize that if a company really wants to succeed in an international or global market, the people are the difference makers (Selmer and Leung, 2003; Forster, 1999; Vance and Paik, 2001). According to Sim and Dixon (2007), a commonly held stereotype of an expat is a man working in a foreign country accompanied by a non-working wife (partner). As a matter of fact, authors such as Smith and Still; Harris or Torrington reported that majority of the international assignments really are carried out by men (as cited in Linehan and Scullion, 2001). Their claims are consistent with the work of Guthrie, Ash and Stevens (2003) who stressed that: “disproportionately few women hold expatriate assignments” (p.230).
The under-representation of women is evident as the empirical evidence speaks for itself (Robinson and MacDonald, 2004). In 1995, Florkowski and Fogel carried out a worldwide study and one of their goals was to analyze the distribution of male and female expatriates. They arrived at the conclusion that only 11% of the respondents were women (as cited in Marthur-Helm, 2002; Guthrie et al., 2003). Similarly in the year 1997, Windham International published a study showing that women make up less than 17% of the expatriate workforce (as cited in Kollinger, 2005). One could argue that these studies are quite outdated and irrelevant. However, a recent independent study from 2013 sponsored by National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and the Cigna Global Health Benefits (CGHB) revealed that that the numbers do not differ much from the past (Expatriate Trends Study 2013: Understanding Their Perspective, 2013). The authors of the Expatriate Trends Study (2013) managed to gather 1511 respondents via online web survey instrument and the results were as follows: 80% men expatriates and 20% women expatriates.
Despite the lack of studies specifically targeting this issue, Nick Forster (1999) managed to review the limited literature available and found out that there were no gender-based differences in terms of motivation and success among those that wish to pursue careers abroad. Guthrie, Ash and Stevens (2003) used two reliable personality instruments widely used in the field of Psychology (NEO Personality Inventory and Hogan Personality Inventory) to examine the relationship between personality and the success on international assignments. The statistical tests revealed that women are often more suitable for expatriate assignments (Guthrie et al., 2003).
This certainly raises some interesting questions such as: “Why are women under-represented in expatriate work if they are just as capable as men for such tasks”? What are the issues and barriers that they are facing”? Even though Forster (1999) or Charlene (1998) noticed a certain steady progress during the 1970’s and 1980’s regarding women’s international careers, it would still be the men who are largely favored by the management of the MNCs, HR departments etc.
Based on the available literature, the female expats are facing several significant issues. Dr. Margaret Linehan and Hugh Scullion (2001), professors of Human Resource Management, conducted interviews with 50 participants based in Europe. In order to be included in the study, two criteria had to be fulfilled: 1) experience as a senior female manager and 2) at least one successfully completed international assignment. Linehan and Scullion (2001) listed the following drawbacks for females. First, the former female expats believed that there would be a lack of female expatriate managers until the organizations decide to re-evaluate their current HR policies. Second issue reported by the interviewees was the lack of organizational support, particularly mentoring and interpersonal networks. The respondents emphasized that the absence of such support caused problems in their career development. Third, the HR management was mostly addressing the needs of males and the organizations have not yet been successful at implementing training and development strategies that would answer the needs of their counterparts. Similarly, the interviewees noted that only a few organizations have managed to create gender-specific career models.
Other frequently mentioned topics during the interviews were the gender differences, glass ceiling and family obligations that made the promotion to senior managerial positions far more difficult for women expats. For instance, the respondents reported that they encountered situations in which they felt pressured to make a decision whether to pursue their international career or stay with the family. Last but not least, Linehan and Scullion (2001) found out that it was still more challenging for women to combine career, marriage and children compared to men.
Another issue of serious concern that has been frequently mentioned in the literature was tied to the selection process. Researchers Vance and Paik (2001), who studied mainly U.S. female expats, called for impartial selection procedures. In their opinion, impartiality would result in more talent for the global market (Vance and Paik, 2001). Selmer and Leung (2003) argued that men are typically in charge of the selection for the international assignments and unfortunately many of them are still relying on gender stereotypes. In a study from 1990, Chusmir and Frontczak emphasized that women may actually start developing negative attitudes and eventually lose interest in seeking for international missions (as cited in Selmer and Leung, 2003). Vance and Paik (2001) recommended that MNCs should spend some portion of their budget on various beneficial programs such as parental leave or childcare. According to their final remarks, MNCs also commonly hold biased views thinking female expatriate managers are not well-received or accepted in foreign business environments and that this is in their opinion a huge barrier to attracting new talent. As a matter of fact, Charlene (1998) explained that western women are commonly quite welcomed in other countries, which only supports the claims of Vance and Paik (2001) that the MNCs are often wrong with their judgments.
Nevertheless, cultures and cultural biases play a tremendous role as to how the female expatriate managers are perceived. According to research, some of the societies may actually inhibit the potential success of female expats due to their different cultural habits or values. Helm (2002) used an example of South Africa, where the political changes have sparked debates regarding gender inequality in the workplace, but the progress is still very limited. Researchers Owen, Javalgi and Scherer (2007) distributed the “Women as Managers Scale” to 285 employees of the People’s Bank of China (PBC). The results led to confirmation of their hypothesis suggesting that: “both male and female Chinese managers hold a negative perception of women as managers, although Chinese women hold more positive perceptions of women as managers than do Chinese men” (p. 27). Charlene (1998) suggested that some countries or cultures may present a bigger challenge than other, but flexibility and planning are effective tools for the female expats to manage the difficult situations that may arise during their assignments. Researchers Taylor and Napier (1996) studied female expats in Japan. They hypothesized that proper life and work adjustment in a foreign country are the main barriers, but also the key determinants of successful performance. On the contrary, the failure to adjust would likely result in early departure, which could be very costly for the company (Taylor and Napier, 1996). This leads to the last issue that will be discussed in this paper and that is repatriation. According to Taylor and Napier (1996), repatriation was really an issue in their study from Japan. The female expats were quite frustrated with the fact that the organizations usually failed at planning of their return back. One survey actually found that 40% of the U.S. expats returned home without knowing what their job is going to be (as cited in Taylor and Napier, 1996).
In conclusion, it must be acknowledged that this literature review has certain limitations. The research was mostly based on older studies. Therefore the findings may not be accurate. On the other hand the statistics from the 2013 Expatriate Trends Study prove that there is still a major gap among male and female expats. Further studies need to be done in order to increase general awareness of the public regarding this issue and to correct the widely accepted misconceptions that prevent female expatriate workers from using their full potential.
Linehan and Scullion’s (2001) final remarks were as follows: “Gender stereotyping is still a major obstacle for female managers to overcome, particularly in their home organizations at the early stages of their careers” (p. 416). Clearly many people still hold old-fashioned views that women are not capable of performing such jobs or that they should stick to the traditional female roles such as childbearing. Even though, there is an increasing demand for globally competent people, we have seen that stereotyping and culture unfortunately still play a very significant role in this issue (Hartl, 2004; Linehan and Scullion, 2001). Forster (1999) suggested that the companies, which are trying to create equal opportunities for their employees, must critically evaluate their today’s expatriate management policies. Hopefully, studies of similar fashion or even women themselves will push the executives to take appropriate actions and attract more female talent because I believe that in such competitive environment, companies should not leave out valuable inputs from the employees solely based on the fact that they are wearing a dress when they go to work (Forster, 1999).

Bibliography
Charlene, M.S. (1998) Women Expats: Shattering the Myths, Workforce, 3, (3), pp. 10-12.
Forster, N. (1999) Another ‘Glass Ceiling?: The Experiences of Women Professionals and Managers on International Assignments, Gender, Work & Organization, 6 (2), pp. 79-90.
Guthrie, J.P., Ash, R.A. & Stevens, C.D. (2003) Are women "better" than men? Personality differences and expatriate selection. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18 (3), pp. 229-243.
Hard, K. (2004) The expatriate career transition, and women managers' experiences, Women in Management Review, 19 (1), pp. 40-51.
Kollinger, I. (2005) Women and expatriate work opportunities in Austrian organizations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16 (7), pp. 1243-1260.
Linehan, M. & Scullion, H. (2001) European female expatriate careers: Critical success factors. Journal of European Industrial Training, 25 (8), pp. 392-418.
Mathur-Helm, B. (2002) Expatriate women managers: At the crossroads of success, challenges and career goals. Women in Management Review, 17 (1), pp. 18-28.

National Foreign Trade Council & Cigna Global Health Benefits. (2013). Expatriate Trends Study 2013: Understanding Their Perspective [online]. Available from: <http://cignaglobalhealth.com/assets/docs/we-know-expats/expat-trends-exec-summary.pdf/> [Accessed 1 November 2015].
Owen, C.L., Javalgi, R.G. & Scherer, R.F. (2007) Success Strategies for Expatriate Women Managers in China. Review of Business, 27 (3), pp. 24-31.
Ritzer, G. & Dean, P. (2014) Globalization: a basic text, 2nd ed. Wiley Blackwell, Chichester.
Robinson, I. & MacDonald, S. (2004) Expatriate Women Managers. Gender, Culture and Career, Journal of Management Development, 23 (4), pp. 414-415.
Selmer, J. & Leung, A.S.M. (2003) Expatriate career intentions of women on foreign assignments and their adjustment. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18 (3), pp. 244-258.
Sim, M. & Dixon, L. (2007) Number of women expats increasing, Canadian HR Reporter, 20 (10), pp. 14.
Taylor, S. & Napier, N. (1996) Working in Japan: Lessons from women expatriates. Sloan management review, 37, (3), pp. 76.
Vance, C.M. & Paik, Y. (2001) Where do American women face their biggest obstacle to expatriate career success? Back in their own backyard. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 8, (3/4), pp. 98-116.