If the differences between men and women are made clear within a particular culture, then these same differences likely become even more striking between different cultures. So what challenges does this pose for a mobile workforce?

Women in managerial positions have had to struggle to find ways to be effective in cultures where their authority and credibility are not traditionally the norm, and organisations have had to cope with developing strategies and policies to handle these challenges effectively and fairly. However, individual behaviours and organisational policies have both helped to change but also reinforce some of the difficulties.

Familiarity breeds change

Working with people in different cultures is simply not as unique a situation as it was ten or twenty years ago. While the degree to which cultures adapt to one another's differences is debated by anthropologists and historians, there is no doubt that in the global business environment there simply is more familiarity with ‘others’ today than there was even just a few years ago.

Some cultures can only accept authority in the workplace from non-native women

For example the female American manager working in Japan today will have a very different experience from her equivalent in Japan twenty years ago. This isn’t because either Japanese or American values or belief systems have changed, but rather that in the global business environment familiarity has bred, in addition to contempt, a set of behaviours that at least acknowledges differences.

This means that foreign businesswomen are seen—depending upon the degree to which a culture has been involved in the process of globalization—firstly as business people, secondly as representatives of their culture, and thirdly as women. This is very different from patterns at the beginning of globalisation, where business women were seen firstly as representatives of their gender, secondly as representatives of their culture, and only last—if at all—as business people.

The feminine advantage

As cultures become more involved in the globalisation process, gender differences do have an up side. For example American businesswomen report that being female gives them an advantage because male business colleagues in cultures that have experienced significant globalisation understand that in America women can have authority in business and therefore give them special consideration.

In this way, doors to foreign businesswomen open more often than they close in many cultures simply because a foreign business woman, being outside of and exempt from the traditional norms, provides local business men with new opportunities without challenging the norms.

The skills paradox

There are many reasons why men and women behave differently, and researchers are still busy with this issue. Whether genetic, conditioned, or some combination of both, the fact is women and men often employ different behaviours in similar situations. Curiously, the behavioural skill sets that are effective in many cultures abroad match closely with what have been traditionally referred to as ‘feminine’ behaviours, with traditional ‘masculine’ behaviours being less effective in these same cultures.

For example, in the US the ability to communicate relational and interpersonal understanding, for whatever the reason, seems to be a skill more easily employed by women than men, yet this is a prime requirement for successful business in many cultures. Nancy Adler's research in this field has indicated that American women often have great success abroad precisely because of their ability to develop the all-important interpersonal relationship, a skill that many American businessmen either cannot master or mistakenly overlook in their singular emphasis on ‘the deal’.

The paradox here is that it is precisely those cultures which emphasise the importance of the interpersonal relationship that also traditionally have excluded women from business such as Latin America and the Arab world.  However, as such cultures become more influenced by globalisation, women become increasingly successful in business.

‘Trailing spouse’ or ‘shining star’?

As organisations globalise, relocating employees, and their families, to different cultures, has been a critical human resource concern. In the past, and to a great degree still, the traditional assignment abroad had the following profile: three years on site, established male employee, accompanied by non-working wife, perhaps with one or two children.

Fewer women are selected to go on assignment

Today, the assignment may only be for a year, the assignee may more often be young and single; but if there is a partner, in most cases that still means a female, unemployed spouse. However, the demands on the ‘trailing spouse’ are significantly greater today and there seem to be fewer successful solutions.

Twenty years ago the trailing spouse may have been a non-working housewife; today, the accompanying spouse of either gender more often than not has a career of their own, but is forced to alter their own career path to accompany their partner. Additionally, these ‘career partners’ contribute significantly to family income, and the loss of this income—in most cases, laws prohibit them from working abroad—is a strong disincentive to accept an international assignment, or requires increased—often cash—incentives.

Still fewer women expats

Given the degree to which our society, more or less successfully promotes women to positions of authority—or at least espouses such action—and the degree to which other cultures in today’s globalising world are providing opportunities for success to business women, the question must be asked why are there not more relocation assignments abroad where the woman is the employee?

Recent studies have indicated that female employees abroad, if relocated with their families, in addition to succeeding a global businesspeople, are additionally required to fulfill the role of ‘homemaker’ and family nurturer—a dual role male assignees have rarely had to fill—and organisations simply have not provided adequate resources to enable women assignees with families to adapt under these pressures.

Looking to the future

If we have made the decision to work across cultures, to make the most out of the differences that the world provides to us, then we can also make the decision to work across genders, and make the most out of the differences that both men and women bring to our global organisations.  And we can do this through valuing these differences and providing our employees with the resources to enable them to succeed.

June 2005

Dean Foster is the president of  Dean Foster Associates. He can be contacted through its European Head Office at: info@dfa-europe.com, or via his website at www.learnaboutcultures.com

Subject: Women on assignment, Gender issues in the workplace, working across cultures