scholarly journals Taking a Step Back? Expatriation Consequences on Women in Dual-Career Couples in the Gulf

Merits ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Maranda Ridgway
Keyword(s):  
Host Country ◽  
Dual Career ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Women's Careers ◽  
Coordination Strategies ◽  
Dual Career Couples ◽  
Term Adverse Effect ◽  
Career Capital ◽  
Women’S Careers ◽  
Career Strategies

This article develops our understanding of how host country contextual features affect the career coordination strategies of dual-career couples (DCCs) from the perspective of expatriate women. The lived experiences of nine women expatriates in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were explored through in-depth interviews. The findings challenge our understanding of the coordinated career strategies of DCCs by suggesting that sociocultural features of the host country context can hamper egalitarian career strategies such that they become hierarchical and subsequently negatively impact women expatriates’ career capital. Not only are women’s careers hampered while in the GCC, but the contextual setting has a long-term adverse effect on women’s career capital. The main results from this study suggest that sociocultural features of the host country setting, such as the inability to access professional networks due to gendered segregation, prevent women’s careers from being prioritised and force a ‘tipping point’, creating a lag in women’s careers and negatively impacting their career capital.

scholarly journals DEALING WITH DUAL CAREER COUPLES: A TOOL FOR ACCEPTING AND MAKING INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS EFFECTIVE

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 181-188
Author(s):  
Gabriel Dwomoh ◽  
Asiamah Yeboah ◽  
Evelyn Owusu Frempong
Keyword(s):  
Host Country ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Dual Career ◽  
International Assignments ◽  
International Assignment ◽  
Dual Career Couples ◽  
Lump Sum ◽  
Reciprocal Arrangement ◽  
Trailing Spouse

The study seeks to explore existing literature on how MNCs are dealing with dual career couples for international assignees to accept international assignment and what these MNCs have not been able to provide so that contribution can be made to the existing literature. The study was exploratory research where the contributions of various authors were assessed to determine if dual career couples pose a threat for international assignees to accept international assignment. The exploration reveals that MNCs need to deal with issues associated with dual career couples since it contribute significantly to the rejection of international assignments. There are various strategies MNCs adopt in order to entice the international assignee’s spouse to give his or her blessing to the international assignment and mainly among them captured in the literature are providing a lump sum payment for the trailing spouse, inter-firm networking, assisting the trailing spouse to find job in the host country, engaging in reciprocal arrangement with other MNCs to find job for the trailing spouse in the host country and providing career support in order to make the trailing spouse skills, knowledge and abilities relevant to the host country job market. The study identified two strategies that could be used to deal with dual career couples which were not captured in the literature and these are the active involvement of the expatriate spouses in the recruitment and selection process and the use of virtual assignments by relying on the availability of technology for international assignments.

On Dual Career Couples

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 737-737
Author(s):  
Karen Prager
Keyword(s):  
Dual Career ◽  
Dual Career Couples

Dual-career couples

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne S. Benson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Dual Career ◽  
Dual Career Couples

Cross-Currents in the River of Time: Conceptualizing the Complexities of Women's Careers

1992 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary N. Powell ◽  
Lisa A. Mainiero
Keyword(s):  
Objective Measures ◽  
Women's Careers ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
Life Success ◽  
Women’S Careers ◽  
Over Time

Womenface a complex panorama of choices and constraints in their career and life development. This article presents an approach to the understanding of women's careers that (a) takes into account non-work as well as work issues; (b) incorporates subjective as well as objective measures of career and life success; (c) incorporates the influence of personal, organizational, and societalfactors on women's choices and outcomes; and (d) does not assume that women's careers go through a predictable sequence of stages over time. Such an approach is vastly differentfrom traditional models of men's careers. Implications of this approach for research, organizations, and men's careers are discussed.

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