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Culture Clash
Women expatriates heading to male-centric countries often experience special challenges that employers can and should be helping them negotiate.
Gayle Cotton doesn't mince words when describing her experience working in numerous locations throughout the Middle East -- including Egypt, Morocco and Dubai, of the United Arab Emirates. "I have three strikes against me -- I'm American, I'm female and I'm blonde," says the president of Circles of Excellence, a Dallas-based corporate training and professional development firm. "(The men) are typically not used to women in business, so you look unusual to them and they are not going to approach you as a businessperson," Cotton says. "Given their culture, they have a hard time relating to you because there are so many other things going on in their mind about how they relate to women." While the sight of a high-level female expatriate may once have been a rarity in a place like Marrakech, Riyadh or Mexico City, that likely will soon be a thing of the past. According to the most recent Global Relocation Trends Survey, issued by GMAC Global Relocation Services and the National Foreign Trade Council, women accounted for 23 percent of international assignees in 2005, up 5 percent from the preceding year. With an increasing number of women taking on international assignments, more females are bound to be offered opportunities to live and work in locations traditionally deemed patriarchal. The question is whether cultural differences with regard to the role of women in society and in the workplace will get in the way of what could otherwise be a personally enriching -- and potentially career-boosting -- experience. All too often, experts say, that's exactly what's happening. And, sometimes, it's not even happening within the countries in question, but before the offer to go on assignment is even extended. According to Arup Varma, director of the institute of human resources and employment relations for the graduate school of business at Loyola University in Chicago, employers frequently don't offer qualified female candidates the opportunity to work in places such as the Middle East, Asia, or Latin America because they are concerned that cultural biases may prevent women from being successful. "Many male decision-makers believe that women will not be treated well in male-centric societies, so when they are thinking of whom to send (on assignment), they are not really thinking of women," he says. "They are not even on the radar." Often, the women themselves buy into the belief that they will be viewed as "less capable" and, thus, will be unable to succeed in a patriarchal culture. Therefore, they come to view such assignments as unfeasible, even when they're offered to them. "Whenever I do seminars, invariably, a woman will raise her hand and say, 'If I do business with Indians or Chinese or Russians, I'm going to have problems because they don't take women seriously,' " says Sheida Hodge, cross-cultural communication expert and president of Hodge International Advisors in Seattle. "You end up with women declining assignments because they are convinced they can't succeed in male-dominated cultures." While the prevailing belief is that women will have an extraordinarily difficult time functioning professionally in a male-centric country, experts say that need not always be the case. On the contrary, they argue, women can be extraordinarily successful when such assignments are approached properly. "Women cannot only overcome and rise above some of the disadvantages, but they can create a situation in which they can be much more successful than men," says Hodge. That's not to suggest there aren't challenges. In many Middle Eastern countries, in particular, women are severely restricted in what they can and cannot do. In Saudi Arabia, for example, women are not allowed to drive and may not be alone with a man to whom they are not married unless an appropriate chaperone -- typically a married couple -- is present. To do otherwise is considered a criminal offense. Women also risk arrest if they are caught wearing a short-sleeved shirt or other "provocative" attire. For many Western women, this can be very disorienting. In the words of Karen Otazo, a Houston-based global executive coach specializing in navigating cultural differences in the workplace, "it's almost like stepping back in time." Dubai is the one exception in the Middle East, according to Cotton, who has spent two stints working there. Her sentiments are echoed by Mariana Neisuler, a consultant and country profiles manager with the Washington office of ORC Worldwide. She recently returned from two-and-a-half years in Dubai, where she was able to wear Western-style business clothing. The only significant difference she witnessed was the fervent interest that colleagues expressed in learning about her family, especially her two sons. "The minute you tell them you have kids -- and especially that you have boys -- they completely change their attitude toward you," she says. In Latin America, on the other hand, women who aren't accustomed to the "machismo" attitude may find themselves caught off-guard. While the chivalrous side of machismo may be a welcome change, women are more likely to be put off by the amorous side, as Latin men may be quite open about their expectations of sexual favors outside the office. "It is a macho society and potentially one where men have feelings toward women that they shouldn't," says Mavi Tzaig, a business services coordinator for London-based Shell Gas & Power International who just completed a two-year stint in Mexico. Negotiating these differences successfully rests heavily on how the expatriates' companies, especially their relocation and HR experts, prepare them for the change.
Never Too Much Mentoring
The notion of living and working in a location where women have traditionally been branded second-class citizens or mere sex objects is unlikely to sit well with everyone. That's why Dean Foster, intercultural trainer and president of Dean Foster Associates in New York, strongly recommends that companies provide a wealth of information up front, so that potential assignees can get a good idea just what they can expect, should they choose to accept the assignment. At Shell International Renewables, in The Hague, The Netherlands, potential expats are given "briefing packs," along with links to Web sites featuring information on the culture of particular locations. While the company goes to great lengths to make such materials available, it's ultimately up to the employee to take the time and effort to investigate the ins and outs of a potential host country. "The onus is on the individuals to do their homework," says Tess White, vice president of human resources for Shell Renewables, Hydrogen and CO2, a division of Shell International Renewables in The Hague. "All the information is provided, so they should be able to find out for themselves whether or not it's a country where they'd enjoy spending the next four to five years of their lives." According to Saskia Meckmann, an intercultural consultant with Soleil Intercultural in Boca Raton, Fla., once a woman decides to accept an assignment in a patriarchal location, it's absolutely critical that the company provide her with extensive, gender-specific cross-cultural training, so she can adapt her behavior -- and often her appearance -- to the host location. At New York-based Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, soon-to-be expats attend a full-day workshop covering a variety of topics, including specifics with regard to women and how they are treated in other countries, says Sheri Ryan-Soderlund, senior manager of talent management for global financial-advisory services. The firm also encourages assignees to make use of the moving.com Web site, which features extensive country-specific cultural orientation information. Deloitte also gives new assignees a more personal connection to their destination by putting them in touch either with a former expat who has already been on assignment in that area or by facilitating discussions with someone who came from that region. For instance, says Ryan-Soderlund, "if we have an American who will be going to Egypt on assignment and we have an Egyptian on assignment in the United States, we try to get those two people in touch, so the Egyptian can give [the American] an inside track on the culture and everything [she] might encounter." Because her company specializes in cross-cultural education, Cotton was at a definite advantage when embarking on her Middle Eastern adventures. In addition to the information her company provided, she fleshed out her understanding of each destination with information from numerous Web sites, including the State Department and Centers for Disease Control. On her most recent trip to Dubai, she looked up an acquaintance who had been living in the country for two years and could provide valuable advice on attire and attitude. Most cross-cultural experts are soundly in favor of mentors, praising their ability to get new expats up to speed on critical issues and give them a list of cultural do's and don'ts that could make or break the assignment. When it comes to Hodge, however, she isn't sold on the idea. In particular, she is concerned that certain individuals may choose to steer new expats in the wrong direction because they consider their new colleagues to be competitors. Establish Credibility
One thing the experts do agree on is the need to present a female expat as a highly qualified professional from the moment she arrives in the host location. In some instances, this may even take the form of an in-person introduction by a high-ranking male in the company. "If a senior male makes a trip to introduce her personally, there's a huge amount of support visually for the host nationals to see that this woman is highly respected in the company and, therefore, there's an expectation for that to happen in her new role in the new country, as well," says Meckmann. Varma, a native of India, claims host-country nationals will already be open to viewing an incoming woman with high regard. In their eyes, he says, the fact that she was selected above all others -- including her male counterparts -- immediately raises her status and affords her the respect she deserves. "In male-centric societies, that plays a big role: 'A woman was picked over all the men? . . . She's got to be good!' " says Varma. "Immediately, they begin thinking, 'She's going to do a great job, and I've got to learn from her.' Gender becomes irrelevant." Once a female expat's credibility has been established, Foster warns, she must be cautioned not to inadvertently destroy it. Ironically, he says, serious damage can be done simply by taking actions that would be considered common courtesy in a home country -- but serves only to undermine her authority in patriarchal cultures. "Cautions would include everything from never pouring the tea to not volunteering to make copies because those things are seen as clerical tasks, which are usually relegated to the woman's role in many countries," he says. Should a female expat damage her credibility -- or should her employer fail to establish it in the first place -- she could find herself in situations where host country nationals go behind her back, asking her male colleagues for decisions or directives, according to Foster. "It's a behavior that results when your credibility and authority has not been pre-established effectively," he says. "Even if they learn after the fact that you are the team leader or the decision-maker, they will still feel kind of funny about it because now, they've been dealing with the guys who are on your team." To avoid these kinds of situations, Meckmann advocates offering training about gender issues to host nationals, as well as female expats. While she concedes she's not aware of any companies currently doing so, she envisions training that would address stereotypes and interpersonal communication through case studies and role-playing exercises. Although such training would help host nationals view incoming female assignees as competent professionals, Cotton cautions women going abroad not to view themselves as change agents when it comes to the culture of the host country. Numerous times while working in the Middle East, she witnessed disturbing incidents of women being abused verbally and physically. Although she found it difficult not to speak up, Cotton understood she simply had to look the other way. "It is terrible and you do feel very angry, but you have to accept that it's their culture and you cannot change it," she says. "Legally, you can't even speak out against it. If you did, it wouldn't do any good anyway, except probably get you arrested." And, as Foster says, "You don't want to be in a Saudi jail." While the challenges of female expats in male-centric locations are clearly real, they can be overcome. Most importantly, employers should not allow concerns over the treatment of female expats to keep them from offering international assignments to qualified women. "There are very few people who are going to refuse to do business with a corporation because there's a woman there," says Mary Adams, founder and principal of Trek Consulting, in Winchester, Mass., and a former expatriate who worked in the Dominican Republic in the 1980s. "Once you start allowing that double standard to be in your thinking, then you can forget it."
August 1, 2006 Copyright 2006© LRP Publications |
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