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Going international is something that is not considered gender specific. However, when pursuing an international career or experience, do women have extra barriers to entry? In our February newsletter, we featured “10 Questions for Women Who Want to Live and Work Abroad” by Elizabeth Kruempelmann that served to address these additional considerations for women.
Ms. Kruempelmann illustrates that as more women are looking to add international experiences to their careers, they need to look more introspectively at the ‘why’ and ‘how’ with a female twist. The 10 questions outlined in the article, particularly numbers 5-10, address these additional reflections. Arguably, certain areas such as cultural factors and safety may be more challenging for women, especially in countries where women in the workforce is not widely adopted. Those two factors can be large deterrents if the society they are looking to enter is vastly different from their home country. On the contrary, those areas can also serve as a mecca for expression and opportunity in other societies. For women, these considerations are part of their research before going abroad.
While it is important to point out these issues, anyone looking to enter into an international career will be faced with challenges upon entering a new culture. It comes with the territory. What it takes to have a successful international career is ambition, drive and proper due diligence on your part before leaving. Understanding the culture and more importantly, how you fit into it, are key determinants for having a successful work experience abroad. It is also important to know your personal barriers, what you will and will not tolerate and how this international experience will fit into your long-term career goals. These questions serve as guiding principles to help make the decision a well thought out one rather than impulsive. Both men and women need to understand how they fit into the global market place and find their way to make an impact.
What considerations did you make for your international career? Did your gender play a role in your reflections to go abroad?
Excerpt from article:
1. How can international experience boost my career and life satisfaction?
2. What are my best options for gaining relevant international travel, work, volunteer or study experience in this global economic climate?
3. If I want to travel and live in various countries or pursue an expatriate lifestyle, how can I set up my own mobile business that I can run from anywhere?
4. If I want a company or organization to send me abroad to work, how do I make that happen?
5. What are barriers to working globally in my profession?
6. How do global women in my profession get around barriers?
7. What are the cultural rules of doing business overseas for women?
8. How do women build an international network of colleagues and friends?
9. What international skill set do I need to achieve my goals?
10. Who has done what I want to do and how did they do it?”
As today women are a step ahead than men. But we have to give more importance to develop rural women empowerment. We have to make some different and reservation for them. I got one job portal http://naukriforwomen.com which is giving services to the Indian women job seekers. Really it’s a big step in the revolution to bring women empowerment. Empowering women must be a united approach, a cause that requires continued attention and stewardship by all.
Hi Neha,
Thank you for your insights. I absolutely agree that empowering women in the workforce is essential is growing the global economy. According to The Economist, women surpassed the 50% mark in the U.S. workforce in January 2010. That attests to a paradigm shift to the balance of women in the workforce. Thank you for sharing the website for Indian women job seekers. While women do have more considerations when working abroad, the importance (as you eloquently said) is to empower them to continue to do so.
Cheers!
Olga