Barriers to women’s participation in international management

From the extant research in international human resource management it is evident that women are not progressing to senior international management positions at comparable rates to their male counterparts. Previous research has estimated that only 3 percent of expatriate managers are women. This paper argues that female international managers have to overcome many additional overt and covert barriers before being developed for international assignments. Based on an extensive empirical research study conducted with senior female international managers in a European context, the paper highlights a number of the barriers which the interviewees believed limit women’s international career opportunities. The paper also highlights the implications of these barriers for international human resource management policies and practices.