INTRODUCTIONThis paper examines the conflicting demands of work and family involved in the senior female international career move. In particular, the paper highlights both the covert and overt work-family conflict barriers faced by women in their progression to senior managerial positions, in an attempt to explain the relative scarcity of female international managers. The perspective explored is that of currently employed senior female managers in a wide range of organizations, who have made at least one international career move, that is, outside their country of origin. Previous studies have established that, throughout Europe, women's advance into senior domestic management positions has been very slow, despite the increasing change in the legislative framework, including the European Union's social protocol, to enforce issues related to equal opportunity such as equal pay and sex discrimination (Davidson and Cooper, 1993;Hammond and Holton, 1991). The number of female managers pursuing international management careers, however, remains considerably lower than for women in domestic management. Harris (1995) and Adler (1993) estimate that only 3% of expatriate managers are women. There is no profile of the ideal expatriate, but the majority of managers (approximately 97%) are male, which means that the research to date has typically focused on the male international career move.A review of the international human resource management literature indicates a lack of empirically based European studies. Davison and Punnett (1995) noted that gender and race have received relatively little attention in expatriate literature, despite the impact of these and other variablessuch as religion, and other distinguishing personal characteristics which frequently arise in expatriate decisions. Scase and Goffee (1990) observed that, despite our increasing knowledge of the problems and experiences which are directly related to gender and which affect women in management, many issues remain unexplored and, as yet, have not been the subject of detailed empirical research. As a result, much discussion relies on untested assumptions rather than on empirical research. A review of international The particular focus of this paper is on the work-family conflict experienced by senior female international managers within a European context. This research is particularly relevant as existing European studies have not specifically addressed issues pertaining to the senior female international manager. For the purpose of this study 50 senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide diversity of industry and service sectors. The study establishes that work-family conflict still prevents many female managers from progressing to senior management. The results of the study show that the senior international career move has largely been developed along a linear male model of career progression, a development which, together with gender disparity both in organizations and family responsibilities, frequently prevents women...

From the extant research in international human resource management it is evident that women are not progressing to senior international management positions at comparable rates to their male counterparts. Previous research has estimated that only 3 percent of expatriate managers are women. This paper argues that female international managers have to overcome many additional overt and covert barriers before being developed for international assignments. Based on an extensive empirical research study conducted with senior female international managers in a European context, the paper highlights a number of the barriers which the interviewees believed limit women's international career opportunities. The paper also highlights the implications of these barriers for international human resource management policies and practices.

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Mentoring relationships may be important for female managers seeking career advancement in both domestic and international management. The relative scarcity

The experience of women in international management – especially within a European context – has received little attention in the international human resource management literature. In particular, there is a dearth of empirical research which details the role and career moves of the senior female international manager. The particular focus of this paper is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe. A total of 50 senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The article highlights a number of covert and overt barriers which the interviewees believed limit women’s international career opportunities. The findings indicate that it is timely for organisations to face and address the difficulties female managers encounter in their progression to senior managerial positions in order to ensure that future opportunities for progression to senior management is equal to that of their male counterparts.