Expatriates are employees of corporations sent to live in a foreign country on various assignments for a short period with or without their families. According to research, most of the expatriates are male who are at 82 percent of the ages between 50 and 59 years. About 68 percent of the expatriates are married with 80 percent being accompanied by their spouses or partners to their assignments (Harzing et.al 2016). Additionally, only 47 percent of the expatriates are accompanied by their children for their assignments. According to the 2011 report from the global Relocation Trend Survey only 18 percent of the expatriates are female ( Dickmann and Baruch 2011) . The number of female expatriates is significantly low which raises various questions on the issue. Harzing 2001 states the expatriates are people who transfer corporate values and beliefs by acting as agents of socialization for corporations. The adaptation of different work practices is often encouraged as it helps in exposing employees to different perspectives that will shape their conduct. Additionally, expatriates also act as network builders in when they are on international assignments. Expatriates create a network both formal and informal as they help companies build informal control on foreign countries. Expatriates also help in representing their firms in foreign countries by acting as boundary spanners who gather information about the host country for their firms.
Expatriates are chosen depending on their technical expertise, past performance, and the knowledge they have about the company. An expat should also be trustworthy, have a good reputation and flexible. The company looks at the family situation before choosing a person to be an expat such as spousal support, dual career issues, children and elderly parents. An expatriate should have the ability to live and work effectively in different cultural settings. They should also have a previous experience where they provided satisfactory results. Expatriates are used for various reasons such as control, learning and knowledge transfer, global integration, and management development. However, some expats fail due to being successful in their work due to family concerns, inability to adapt to the host nations, partner dissatisfaction and inability to meet job expectations.
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Women make up nearly half of the industrious populace, but they are still highly underrepresented in the senior management levels and in authority position both domestically and internationally. Women inhabit only 2.4 percent of the highest-ranking position in many companies, which is an indication that despite the growing placement of women as expatriates in America’s multinationals, women are still highly underrepresented ( Blackhurst & Cummins, 2005 ). With the increased globalization by many companies today, business operations and international experience, women are still not making the cut to the top hierarchy as expatriates. The multinationals often send their most competent and experienced expatriates to represent them internationally. Despite the rising mandate for international expatriates, women’s place as expatriates remain significantly compared to male expatriates (Harzing et.al. 2016). Harris and Dickmann (2005) argue that the pool of expatriates at the international level is surprisingly low despite the increased pool of professional women today. Women only seem to prosper in female-friendly areas such as non-profit organization and fail in a sector such as engineering.
Experience for the expatriates often involves developmental experiences and cultural knowledge as well as being able to connect with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. The experience from the global assignment is valuable for both male and female managers. However, the success on global assignments may differ for men and women in the same line of work mostly because female expatriates are often negatively stereotyped by the host nations ( Shortland, 2018 ). Some nations may disregard women for being women and refuse or be reluctant to do business with female managers. Dickmann and Baruch (2011). state the different success factors characterize successful expatriates. Factors such as self-awareness, focus, balancing emotions, resilience, ability to adapt to new situations, motivation and willingness can help an expatriate be successful in a host country. Van Den Anker (2009) indicates that soft skills are also paramount in ensuring expatriate success. Van continues to state that a good interaction between an expatriate and the host country boosts the success and effectiveness of the assignment. Culture shock is inevitable in a host country. Some countries are discriminative towards women and this may come as a hindrance to accomplishing the work assigned. Some countries are too sexist that they are considered too dangerous for females to work, especially from other countries ( Stoermer et.al. 2017 ). Other countries have religious laws that are disadvantageous to unknowing female expatriates. As such, it is critical that a female expatriate researches the country’s laws before going on a job assignment.
Women expatriates are often viewed differently by the employers and the customers. Most employers have negative attitudes towards women citing issues such as potential customer problems office and spouse problems. On the other hand, customers view women expatriates as professional, qualifies, decision makers and experienced. In most cases, customers do not care about the gender of the expatriates. Notably, women are different from men when it comes to work and building relationships. They tend to approach the situation with a win-win orientation, women are also good and empathetic listeners and they also tend to be participative. Nevertheless, the problem with women expatriates often comes from men in the home country of the woman than the men in the host country. The men in the home country may feel the need to protect the women from imaginary difficulties and from the men in the foreign country. The senior executive report that male expatriates do not make decisions based on stereotypes. On the other hand, peers often state that male expatriates clarify relationships, include all genders in their conversations, which allows for diversification and also ensure diverse social activities.
According to Harzing et.al, a country that follows manlier work-related standards tends to focus more on the self-assured interests such as completing the tasks, earning and advancements (2016). On the other hand, a country that is more skewed towards female related work focuses on the issue of nurturing relationships with managers and co-workers ( Stoermer et.al. 2017 ). Women tend to emphasize on cooperation rather than competition in their style of management. Additionally, women tend to be more concerned with the indirectness in communication. Therefore, it is common for women who favor fostering, obliqueness and cooperation to face challenges in adapting to highly competitive and aggressive workplaces ( Caligiuri & Bonache, 2016 ). Nevertheless, women may be best suited to work successfully in countries that favor women.
Male and female expatriates tend to be treated differently. Many employers make assumptions based on gender, thus it is common for a manager to assume that females will not take international assignments when needed to do so ( Stoermer et.al. 2017 ). The employers may also tend to think that women will not work effectively in foreign countries due to gender discrimination in the host country. Additionally, female’s experiences in the global firms are significantly influenced by their roles in the family ( Koveshnikov et.al. 2014 ). Notably, international careers concerns are assumed to be more common for female managers with husbands that for the males with their wives. Nevertheless, it should be noted that spousal support is, in fact, great at ensuring spouses working in the foreign countries become creative in coping with various challenges ( Caligiuri & Bonache, 2016 ). In today’s world, it is unreasonable for a company to think that a woman cannot work internationally because of the husband’s career. The couple should be left to make that choice instead of the employers working on the basis of assumptions.
Women expatriates are different from male expatriates in terms of personal skills. Sociologists argue that females tend to hone their skills well especially when reading non-verbal cues and developing harmonious and group relationships ( Koveshnikov et.al. 2014 ). Women are quite good at working new cultures and in new languages. Additionally, females are often experienced in places where there are less practical tools for an organization. Psychologists argue that women tend to value more their social networks and persona; relationships than men. Therefore, female expatriates are more valuable as they help bring the interpersonal style in the company by building parament relationships and networks ( Koveshnikov et.al. 2014 ). In the global business world, female expatriates tend to construct more functional than traditional hierarchies. Therefore, female expatriates are more likely to build and support hubs that will benefit the company as invaluable assets. Research indicates that female expatriates are often embedded in strong local social networks which gives them a better chance at adjusting to new life in foreign countries.
Often the expatriates expect to come back home and find that it is just the same as they left it. Notably, when one is outside the country, there are various events and developing that go on in the home country. Changes with the family, extended fail, relationships, and neighborhood can lead to a reverse culture shock ( Koveshnikov et.al. 2014 ). Such changes are often can be quite disorienting for the expatriates on return home. Additionally, having lived in a foreign country for a long time may also change the expatriate. The foreign concepts, culture and new practices may affect the expatriates’ attitudes and relationships with the people back home ( Koveshnikov et.al. 2014 ). Remarkably, the expatriate had adopted a new culture in the froing country. After returning home, they will have to readapt to their culture and get rid of the foreign learned routines.
In conclusion, Expatriates are chosen depending on their technical expertise, past performance, and the knowledge they have about the company. Despite the growing demand for international expatriates, women positions as expatriates remain significantly compared to male expatriates. the success in global assignments may differ for men and women in the same line of work mostly because female expatriates are often negatively stereotyped by the host nations. Some nations may disregard women for being women and refuse or be reluctant to do business with female managers. Some countries are discriminative towards women and this may come as a hindrance to accomplishing the work assigned. Some countries are too sexist that they are considered too dangerous for females to work. Male and female expatriates tend to be treated differently. Many employers make assumptions based on gender, thus it is common for a manager to assume that females will not take international assignments when needed to do so. The foreign concepts, culture and new practices may affect the expatriates’ attitudes and relationships with the people back home. Therefore, it is important that organizations create and implement strategies that will help female expatriates to adjust in the foreign countries. Training on cross-cultural issues for female managers on global assignments such as the norms and traditions of a country can help reduce the challenges that face female expatriates.
References
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Shortland, S. (2018). Female expatriates’ motivations and challenges: the case of oil and gas. Gender in Management: An International Journal .
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Van den Anker, B. J. (2009). Expatriate perceptions of the role of host country nationals in the expatriate adjustment process (Doctoral dissertation).
