While many companies make extra efforts to reach out to female expatriate employees and female spouses, their male counterparts sometimes face severe stress and isolation - with almost no support structure in place.

A male trailing spouse and a single male on an expatriate assignment arrive in the same European city at the same time. After a few months, neither of them speak the local language fluently, and neither have made local friends. Both are longing to meet someone who can understand their situation and with whom they can share their frustrations.

But how will they find each other and men like themselves? Not at the monthly coffee of the foreign women's association, that's certain.

Chances are, men living abroad, unlike women, do not have a support type of group they can easily join that will help smooth their transition.

Also, with the majority of trailing spouses still women, companies tend to cater to what could be seen as female-specific support needs. But do multinationals pay enough attention to support for male expatriates and male trailing spouses?

Many HR departments seem baffled by the idea of providing support for men, and even those who entertain the idea say the feel there is no need for it.

Scottish expatriate Francis Carry works in the Paris office of cosmetics corporation Coty as VP of Human Resources for Europe.

While she accepts that workers sent abroad require some level of help arranging their relocation, she says the company has never had and has no plans for male expatriate support.

"We have had no real thoughts on this or queries about it. We are a very egalitarian company and so therefore always make sure that both men and women are helped on an equal basis, which applies also to our relocation requirements and policies," Carry says.

Cendant and PricewaterhouseCoopers, both of which Coty uses for arranging relocations, "have ever mentioned this before or said it is something we need to be looking at."

Integration courses deliberately designed for men and women have been very successful with many of Coty's expatriates, Carry points out.

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