Senior Female International Managers: Why so Few?

Citation

O’Higgins, E. (2001), "Senior Female International Managers: Why so Few?", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 475-486. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijm.2001.22.5.475.1

This book, based on the doctoral thesis of the author, is a study of the experiences and observations of 50 senior women executives who have had work postings outside their home countries, within Europe. Semi‐structured interviews were used, as befits a study which attempts to explore subtle issues in depth.

The study looks at the issues from three perspectives – women in management, career theory, and women in international management. The purported novelty of this research is that it combines the study of senior women managers with the international dimension. However, 13 of the women in the study were Irish women based in Ireland who had at some stage had a posting abroad, and 12 of the women were non‐Irish but based in Ireland. Given that Ireland comprises about 1 percent of the EU population, this can hardly justify the claim that this is a European sample in the broad sense.

The first part of the book is a literature review which consists of an overview of barriers to women in management. This examines various obstacles such as deficits for women in terms of mentors and powerful networks. Other phenomena such as tokenism and sexual harassment that also impede the advancement of women are revisited. Social, political and cultural impediments are considered, especially in Europe. Finally, the author shows how various issues in international managerial assignments are especially problematic for women.

Thus, the literature sets a very negative tone from the beginning. It goes down a well‐trodden path of complaint about “glass ceilings”, tokenism, etc. The author seems not to have found a single encouraging sign for women. Perhaps this is because the literature on the subject is so negative in tone generally, or she was being selective in order to pursue her point of view. One wonders whether in the review of the European landscape, she might have found some variation among different countries, and discovered some instances of progressive activities or legislation, rather than just handpicking negative examples, seemingly at random.

The main part of the book reports on the interviews with the 50 women. The format of the results consists mainly of excerpts from the interviews to illustrate the points being made. First, it describes their experiences under a number of headings that are usually covered in studies of women managers – the glass ceiling, mentors, tokenism, networks, management styles, and career planning. There is nothing much new here, and generally, the author shows how her findings are very much in keeping with previous studies.

The next section reports on the women’s perspectives in terms of their international experience, and examines issues pertinent to this international dimension – the trailing spouse, relationships and childbearing conflicts, characteristics of the international manager, the international transfer cycle, and international career patterns. Generally, the results consist of a long litany of complaints about the obstacles and how hard life is for these women. This is one long litany of woe. Moreover, the women seem to be always pointing out that they have achieved their “high powered” careers despite all the hurdles – in short, the superwoman syndrome. It is obvious that the interviewer asked leading questions that prompted these negative and discouraging answers. The reader has to be left wondering. If it is so miserable, why do these women put up with it? Surely, there must be something worthwhile about international assignments. However, these are mentioned in passing and dismissed. More value would have been derived from an investigation of the nature of international assignments, and how they broadly enhance personal development. If this had been investigated in tandem with some understanding of how the women’s activities abroad contributed uniquely to the overall aims of their companies’ international operations, a more rounded picture would have emerged.

The final part of the book presents the conclusions as a series of “propositions” logically grouped in terms of circumstances antecedent to expatriation assignments, during the assignment and then the repatriation process. The antecedent material concentrates on all the impediments to women seeking an international assignment, as well as the doubts that women experience in deciding to seek such an assignment. This is repeating the usual reasons – glass ceiling, lack of role models and mentors, etc. On the mentor issue, it is not clear what is intended by the term. Is a mentor just someone to talk to? It would appear that what is really necessary is a powerful sponsor. The author makes a recommendation to compensate for the shortfall in mentors by using women in middle management as mentors, since there are so few in senior positions. However, how useful is someone who has not reached the top in coaching someone who aspires to do so, not to speak of lack of influence on behalf of her protegée.

Given that the women in the study had obviously got past the formidable barriers so emphatically put forward again and again, it would have been helpful to expand on how they had accomplished this.

Another aspect covered in the “before” phase is the lack of preparation provided by the companies. Apart from no organisational training, little heed is paid to issues in the women’s personal lives, such as spouse, partners, children and ongoing social relationships that are bound to be disrupted. The lack of preparation manifests itself during the assignment when a lack of networks and isolation can become problematic. Some of the difficulties arising are neither peculiarly international nor managerial, for example finding suitable child care. However, a real major issue can be the “trailing spouse”, where the usual role reversal of the expatriate can cause extra strain. This aspect is one of the more pertinent and novel ones covered by the book. The agenda for future research appropriately places this issue within a broader framework of the dual career couple, an increasingly prevalent phenomenon. Thus, the issue would not rest so much on the woman expatriate as the “problem”.

The repatriation circumstances again cite networks, mentors, etc., as being absent for the women to smooth their way back in. In this respect, as well as in the assignment phase itself, it would have been helpful if more had been said about the differences in adjustment challenges for men and women. Obviously, men also experience some of the same needs as women, such as cultural adjustments, the need for mentors etc. Comparing and contrasting would have enriched the material. Several of the propositions would appear to be true for men and women. For example one of the propositions declares that planned and rigorous preparation will improve the likelihood of successful international career moves. Of course, this goes for men too, but are there subtle differences? How does/should this preparation be similar or differ for men and women? There is certainly some evidence available concerning international management experiences for men to which the author might have alluded.

In general, this study has some interesting and relevant material, but it misses the opportunity to look at international women managers in a broad way, by focusing on a stereotyped and narrow pessimism, ignoring the deeper complexities and paradoxes.