The lived experiences of foreign women: Influences on their international working lives

Contextualising work–life balance: a case of women of African origin in the UK

Purpose

The existing gender gap in the workplace, that affects job satisfaction and career advancement of women, creates a need to understand further the causes and effects of the gender gap phenomenon. Although, there are many challenges that affect women’s job satisfaction and advancement in the workplace, this paper aims to investigate work–life balance using multiple theoretical lenses.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with women from Nigeria and Ghana residing in the UK, they were selected using a purposive sampling method.

Findings

The findings show four main factors that explain the choices these women make in relation to work–family. These are cultural sensitivities, current phase in family and work–life, personality types and other influences such as policies and financial commitment. Results also show how these women make these work–family choices using networks and services.

Practical implications

The paper postulates the need for organisation’s to pay attention to the acculturation and enculturation of these women, which would indicate observing their cultural behaviour’s, values, knowledge and identities to understand how they integrate, assimilate and to also prevent separation and marginalisation. In addition, the use of (internal and external) networks as support systems for these women can create the opportunity for informal learning. Finally, organisation’s should create structure that support workplace learning and should include activities such as decision-making, communication, career advancement planning and flexible work patterns.

Originality/value

This study contributes to theory using multiple theories (work-family, gender inequality and Theories X and Y in explaining the work–family construct of women of African origin in the UK.

Career Barriers of Chinese Self-Expatriate Women: Neither Double Jeopardy nor Ethnic Prominence

The study explored barriers to career progression of Chinese self-initiated expatriate (SIE) women in the United Kingdom using semi-structured interviews with two matched samples of Chinese SIE and native Caucasian British women. Double jeopardy and ethnic prominence offered the theoretical backdrop. Common gender-related career hindering factors emerged in both groups. However, no barriers due to ethnicity per se emerged for the Chinese SIE women, whilst their narrations revealed that the Chinese stereotype had rather facilitated their careers in the host country. Furthermore, they did not view self-expatriation as a particularly challenging endeavor. None of the two interpretative frameworks deployed, double jeopardy and ethnic prominence, could account for the findings. The study implies that the effects of ethnicity on self-expatriation experiences and outcomes may be contingent on SIEs' ethnic and cultural origins. In addition, the findings imply that women who self-expatriate to escape gendered opportunities in their home countries may face similar gender-related barriers in host countries.