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Expatica Survey reveals women expats happier at work

Employment & Trends

30/10/2009Expatica Survey reveals women expats happier at work

The number of expat women satisfied with their working environment has tripled in the past year, reveals a recent Expatica survey.

In a survey of more than 450 women living abroad, 63 percent of respondents said they are satisfied or very satisfied with their working conditions compared to 20 percent of respondents in a similar Expatica survey a year ago.

This is the second consecutive year Expatica has conducted a survey in collaboration with Amsterdam-based market research company Ruigrok / NetPanel.

Expat women in Belgium and France are the most happy with their professional lives. In contrast, women in Germany and the Netherlands are the least satisfied with their working life.

Most women said they enjoyed a positive relationship with their co-workers and were happy with commuting arrangements.

“I have amazing colleagues and could consider them as close friends,” said an expat living in the Netherlands.

Another respondent gushed about her life in France: “I have lived and worked here for most of my life. I love my life here, the people, my house, everything.”

Women’s work woes

Meanwhile, promotion opportunities and low wages continue to trouble women expats at work. About 30 percent of the survey respondents felt there are limited job promotion opportunities, while 26 percent felt their wages are too low.

“The work opportunities for professional foreign women are practically nil. France seems very behind the times compared to the UK.” said an expat woman residing in France.

Others were shocked by the level of gender discrimination experienced in fully-developed countries in Europe.

“The opportunities for women to take on responsibility, manage significant projects, moving up in a company, or earn excellent money are about zero,” said a respondent living in Germany.

Finding a job also remains a challenge for women expats, with 64 percent saying they would be able to find a job more easily if they were back in their home country.

“In Brussels, it seems especially hard to become established professionally if you’re not fluent in French and Dutch, which is obviously unlikely if you are a foreigner,” said an expat woman living in Belgium.

“The Belgian emphasis on years of experience in a particular field seems to discriminate against young people and ignore actual talent,” she added.

Where women are happiest

Seventy-two percent of women polled said they are satisfied or very satisfied with their life abroad. According to the survey, female expats based in Spain are the most happy (81 percent), followed by Belgium (79 percent) and France (79 percent).

This is a far cry from last year’s results when women in Spain ranked among the lowest in satisfaction.

“My experiences have been great. My knowledge has broadened. Travel has exposed me to other cultures. Accessibility to art, architecture and music is phenomenal,’’ said a happy respondent from France.

While most women are happy with recreation and food in their adopted countries, the same can’t be said for shopping and healthcare.

An expat woman living in Madrid reported: “I had a bad experience when sick in the hospital. The nursing care was terrible; and this was a private hospital which treats the royal family. I was surprised. It makes me question how nurses are trained in this country. It was scary and I pray that I do not get sick again.”

Socially, female expats said the language barrier and the differences in culture are what make it harder for them to make new friends.

“Dutch people are usually polite and nice to you, but they will rarely invite you to their homes or include you in their circle of friends. My partner’s Dutch, but even with his family, I find them to be too polite, to the extent of being aloof,” said an expat living in the Netherlands.

Others said they faced similar problem even after mastering the language.

“German people can be very cold to foreigners, although there are exceptions. In general, cultural barriers exist despite speaking the language and it’s harder to be accepted.” said a respondent from Germany.

Ongoing challenges faced by women

Women continue to face similar problems compared to a year ago, reveals the survey. The top three challenges are problems with language (53 percent), missing family and friends (49 percent) and the host country’s values (41 percent).

Some found it harder to make new friends because they failed to pick up the language quickly, while others wrote about how much they miss their family and friends.

“Internet may have lessened the problem of missing friends, but I don’t get to see my family much as travelling is too expensive,” said an expat living in the Netherlands.

Another woman based in Spain said: “I find Spanish men to be chauvinistic who do not listen to the views of any women... they (women) are seen as sex objects with no brains.”

Meanwhile, some tried to overcome these challenges by accepting the culture of their adopted country.

An expat in the Netherlands said she is learning to accept that Dutch culture is different from what she is used to.

“Behaviour such as saying impolite/ blunt statements, shoving at the supermarket without apologising, jumping queues without guilt – that’s not rude. That’s just them being Dutch!”

26 May 2009

SO / Expatica