Employers Sending More Women on International Assignments

Workforce Management
Gina Ruiz

Employers are sending more female workers on international assignments than ever before, according to a report from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The study looked at 100 multinational companies with about 17,000 male and female employees working overseas. By Gina Ruiz mployers are sending more female workers on international assignments than ever before, according to a report from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The study looked at 100 multinational companies with about 17,000 male and female employees working overseas.
This trend reflects the increasingly global nature of modern companies. Nowhere is this dynamic more palpable than it is in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China, which reports the greatest rise in number of female assignees.
Survey respondents in the Asia-Pacific region say they have 16 times more females on assignment this year than they did in 2001, according to Mercer principal Yvonne Sonsino.
But this is not the only region experiencing a boom in the number of female assignees. Respondents from North America report having nearly four times as many female assignees, while their European counterparts say they have twice as many.
The trend is expected to continue. Fifty-five percent of respondents anticipate that the number of female assignees will increase steadily over the next five years. Only 4 percent of the survey participants believe the number of female assignees will decline.
For their part, female workers are willing to take on assignments overseas because they can open opportunities for professional advancement. [To read the entire story, go to: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/24/57/70/index.php ]