Module 8: Portfolio Project

Running head: GENDER ISSUES IN THE EXPATRIATE WORLD 1

Gender Issues in the Expatriate World

Sean Bender

Colorado State University – Global Campus

HRM570 – Global Human Resource Leadership

Dr. Tiffanie Deloach

March 29, 2020

GENDER ISSUES IN THE EXPATRIATE WORLD 2

Gender Issues in the Expatriate World

Expatriate workers are employees sent to work abroad in foreign countries on a long-term

job basis (McNulty & Brewster, 2016). These workers are the ones that need to occupy a new

constable or senior management position who need to manage or set up a new branch. Today,

there are various gender issues that have been seen to occur among female expatriate workers in

the world. These gender issues have made it difficult for female expatriate employees to work

abroad and succeed in their roles. Some examples of regions that have shown increasing gender

issues among female expatriate workers are the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.

As people increasingly live and work away from their home countries, expatriates are

seen as mobile and elite professionals in relation to a privileged position in the host setting.

While women form an important part of the global workforce, they are largely seen as under-

represented in various expatriate work environments. One can observe that gender stereotypes

and perceptions about choices women make get linked to under-representation. It is therefore

important that firms are better-able to promote gender equality in these regions so there can be

work environments that are more well-balanced.

In the Middle East, for example, there are various ways in which firms can promote

gender equality and overcome barriers in these regions. Additionally, it is imperative to look into

the female expatriate acceptance in the Middle East. The Middle East should make it favorable

for females from other countries who wish to work in this region. This is vital because these

women bring about an integral aspect in the economy of this region. This means that these

employees should be treated equally as men and most importantly let them maintain their

culture.

GENDER ISSUES IN THE EXPATRIATE WORLD 3

In the Middle East, one can see that women should not mingle with men. This aspect may

deter female workers who have the required knowledge and skills to come and work in this

region. To promote this, the Middle East should let their female workers from other countries

freely interact with various colleagues in the work environment. Doing this will ensure that

teamwork and decision-making get enhanced to achieve the goals of firms in these regions.

In Asia, there are various reasons why female expatriates would choose to work and live

here. Hong Kong tops the best place to acquire new skills in Asia for female expatriates. Other

regions are Singapore, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Also, in this region, there are various ways

in which gender discrimination has led to a decrease in the involvement of female expats in the

work place environments in Asia. For example in Taiwanese work environments, the successful

managerial characteristics they attribute, tend to be more of men than those of women.

Additionally, there has been an increase in sex stereotyping among women expatriates in

Asia (Goel, 2018). Following these findings, there are a several means with which gender

equality can be addressed in the Asian region. For example, it is important that the managerial

systems in the Asian work environments especially Taiwan begin to treat female expats as their

equals and not objects. This is vital in that they, female expatriates, can be more involved in the

overall productivity of the work environment.

Lastly, the other regions where gender issues among female expats have been witnessed

include Latin America. In this region, there has been an increased call on gender-based violence

against women to stop (Hermans et al., 2016). However, there have been minimal efforts in place

to ensure that such gender-based violence stops. It is important to apprehend individuals found

guilty of gender based violence to promote more gender equality in nations other than America.

GENDER ISSUES IN THE EXPATRIATE WORLD 4

References

Goel, S. (2018). Third generation sexism in workplaces: Evidence from India. Asian Journal of

Women's Studies, 24(3), 368-387. doi:10.1080/12259276.2018.1496616

Hermans, M., Newburry, W., Alvarado-Vargas, M. J., Baldo, C. M., Borda, A., Durán-

Zurita, E. G., … Zwerg-Villegas, A. M. (2016). Attitudes towards women’s career

advancement in Latin America: The moderating impact of perceived company

international proactiveness. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(1), 90-112.

doi:10.1057/s41267-016-0039-7

McNulty, Y., & Brewster, C. (2016). Theorizing the meaning(s) of ‘expatriate’: establishing

boundary conditions for business expatriates. The International Journal of Human

Resource Management, 28(1), 27-61. doi:10.1080/09585192.2016.1243567

Simkhada, P., Van Teijlingen, E., Gurung, M., & Wasti, S. P. (2018). A survey of health

problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia. BMC

International Health and Human Rights, 18(1). doi:10.1186/s12914-018-0145-7