Gender, globalisation and development: a re-evaluation of the nature of women's global work

Abstract

Though women remain under-represented amongst expatriate managers due to a range of organisational and cultural barriers in selection and individual relocation concerns, they have begun to pursue alternative routes toward a global career such as frequent travel and undertaking domestic positions with international development and community development responsibilities. In this paper we explore the perceptions that Middle Eastern and North American women have of traditional and new trajectories in global work and careers and conclude that increased flexibility allows women to pursue global development opportunities differently throughout their lifetime careers; permitting them to adapt to work-life circumstances. Thus, our research provides new insights into the nature and dynamic of the nature of women's global work and careers.

Work Life Balance up in the Air – Does Gender Make a Difference between Female and Male International Business Travelers?

“…But despite the high strategic importance of long-term assignments and the growing demand for cross-border talent, experienced international candidates are difficult to find in Europe and the US (Teagarden & Von Glinow, 2008). The willingness of employees to move abroad appears to be continuously declining since the beginning of the early 90s (Hutchings, Lirio, & Metcalfe, 2012;Gross, 1994) due to dual career issues, family concerns, decreased financial incentives and perceived negative career implications (Brookfield Global Relocation Services, 2012;Meyskens et al, 2009;Gupta & Govindarajan, 2000).…”

A Framework for Work-Life Management in Multinational Corporations

“…It is encouraging that researchers have responded to calls such as those by Agars and French (2011) to move beyond a focus on middle-class, white-collar positions. Recent examples in this stream include studies of women in developing countries (Hearn et al 2008;Hutchings et al 2012) and comparative studies of work-life issues among workers across the operations of an MNC (e.g., Allen et al 2014;Beham et al 2014). In sum, this body of literature offers insights to inform MNC managers about how to approach work-life in local contexts and across the HRM architecture.…”

“…There have been important theoretical and empirical contributions focused on work-life balance for expatriates (e.g., Fischlmayr and Kollinger 2010;Lazarova et al 2010;Rosenbusch and Cseh 2012;Shih et al 2010). Several studies explore work-life issues and work-family conflicts related to gender and global careers (Hearn et al 2008;Hutchings et al 2012;Mäkelä and Suutari 2011). Finally, reflecting changing employment and work patterns, there are recent studies on work-life issues for employees who undertake frequent international business travel (e.g., Hearn et al 2008;Kollinger-Santer and Fischlmayr 2013;Kvande 2009) and particularly for women on international assignments (Shortland 2014).…”

The ‘expat factor’: the influence of working time on women's decisions to undertake international assignments in the oil and gas industry

“…Set against this backdrop, the influence of working time within expatriate participation decision-making is a pertinent area for study. Given women's minority status as expatriates (Altman and Shortland, 2008;Hutchings, Lirio and Metcalfe, 2012), concern over their hours of work might be viewed as esoteric. Yet, it is of major importance.…”