Bizcuits | Tough expatriates

Leanda Lee

Some girls grow up believing they can do it all. Class, status, values, economic standing and education all play their part to create a woman who believes in her own personal efficacy.

It would come as no surprise to female expatriates in Macau that they achieved their standing because of opportunity and the resources they have had access to, as well as their talent and effort. Often their individual resources have made up for hurdles placed in their way, whether they be recognised consciously, or not. Many of us just got on with it, believing that by performing well, merit would win out.

Part denial and part ignorance, feminism did not play a part for women of a certain age; there was no time for it. Gender differences were not on our agendas, we were too busy and perhaps too afraid to outwardly acknowledge difference. We played by the false premise of a gender-neutral game, hiding pregnancies under draped suits, and postponing meetings and arranging for substitute lecturers on mobile phones between contractions.

Even if she is a successful executive on home turf, values held about gender in other cultures play a big part in whether a female expatriate even gets the job. The problem is not necessarily with the host-country nationals but the beliefs held about the host culture.

I have experienced western businessmen denigrating women in front of Japanese suppliers in the mistaken belief that by doing so they raised their own standing. Then there was the time that an Australian resources company decided to put a male non-Japanese speaker in a liaison role in preference to the experienced Japanese- speaking female. Both times, the Japanese parties made a fuss, the first by refusing to do business with the oaf and the second by side-lining the less-experienced male. Untested western biases about gender and culture skew decisions.

Although the Japanese are not lauded for gender equality in the workplace, the fundamental error in these cases was the belief that the Japanese counterpart would view a western businesswoman as a woman first – out of place in the business environment – and thus less capable. In fact, what often occurs when cultures collide is that because of the perceived obstacles she has had to overcome, the impression is of the woman as more, not less, capable. She does not fit the role assigned to females in the host environment and considered observation of her abilities replaces stereotypical assumptions.

The fear of women having to deal with prejudice explains a great deal of why only an estimated 20% of the expatriate population is female. A recent study in the Journal of Global Management has looked at the prevalence of harassment in the workplace among female expatriates and whether the incidence is greater in countries with higher institutional-level discrimination.

An index developed by the OECD measures a country’s violence against women, limits to social participation and access to education and other resources. These elements all determine the status of women in a country, known as institutional gender discrimination.

The study suggests that when gender discrimination is high, female expatriates will experience harassment in the work place. Indeed, this was found to be the case across the 25 countries studied – not surprising, as any woman in these environments is likely to experience harassing behaviours. What is important is whether this creates stress at work and influences performance. This is not necessarily so, and benefits of high visibility, easier access to clients and being perceived as highly capable more than make up for the downsides.

What is needed is for companies to stop underestimating the resilience of good staff, to put them forward as capable, demand appropriate behaviours in the workplace and stop reinforcing discriminatory ones by not hiring female expatriates.