Hidden Inequalities of the Expatriate Workforce

Ridgway, Maranda

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59686-0_12

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…There is no enforced legislative equality framework in the GCC, and women are subject to lower pay and stricter recruitment and selection criteria than their male counterparts [43]. This deficit can result in characteristics that are protected in the home country, for example, sex under the UK Equality Act 2010, becoming hidden inequalities in the host country [44]. As Sidani, Konrad and Karam [45] (p. 285) state it is 'the perceived importance of the impact of patriarchal family structures, the explicit favouring of males over females, and the assignment of women to nurturing roles within the private sphere of the family as the major limiting factors' to women's careers, more so than the absence of a legislative framework.…”

Section: Expatriate Women's Career Capital In a Middle Eastern Contextual Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Ridgway¹

2021

Merits

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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.

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Section: Expatriate Women's Career Capital In a Middle Eastern Contextual Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Ridgway¹

2021

Merits

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“…As previously noted, the Arab Gulf states are the most reliant on foreign labour, attracting migrant workers from around the world. One of the most important tensions at the mesoorganisational level is related to gendered prejudices and biases that disproportionately affect women expatriates (Adler, 1984;Altman and Shortland, 2008;Ridgway, 2017). Neither Islam nor the reliance on oil are accountable for women's employment rights in the Middle East, but rather a combination of factors converging in the region discourage a more genderequitable ideology (Price, 2015).…”

Section: Meso-organisational Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The role of wasta can override some of the disadvantages experienced by women whilst also reallocating the marginalisation to less prominent or wealthy members of society (Hutchings et al, 2010). Furthermore, the segregation of women in societies in the Middle East results in women not being able to develop or access networks to exert agency through wasta (Ridgway, 2017). As such, wasta can also have a negative effect on women's careers because it reinforces corrupt and nepotistic behaviours (Abalkhail and Allan, 2016), thus emphasising other forms of inequality, such as that emerging from social status.…”

Section: Micro-individual Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%