Abstract
This chapter explores the spillover effects of transnational mobility on professional and private life spheres, paying particular attention to the gender dynamics of vulnerability. From an interdisciplinary perspective, our aim is to explore the vulnerabilities associated with various forms of geographical mobility in societies (see Forbes-Mewett, 2020) characterised by increasing levels ofspatial displacement (Cresswell, 2006; Kaufmann, 2020) and by uneven shifts in gender norms across countries and among social groups (Bornatici et al., 2021; Daly, 2020; Esping-Andersen, 2009). We define transnational mobility as a physical displacement across borders that is imbued with a wide array of meanings, imaginaries and practices (Frello, 2008; Salazar & Smart, 2011). As a complex human experience, mobility is always entangled with other aspects of the life course (CangiĆ , 2021). Here, we are particularly interested in the interplay between the experience of transnational mobility, including different forms of short- or longterm cross-border relocation, and the gender configurations of professional and family life. Our empirical studies cover a diverse selection of geographically mobile and immobile people, including those who are commonly associated with privileged forms of transnational movement (Amit, 2011) and those who are often perceived as more constrained movers.
You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Introduction
This chapter explores the spillover effects of transnational mobility on professional and private life spheres, paying particular attention to the gender dynamics of vulnerability. From an interdisciplinary perspective, our aim is to explore the vulnerabilities associated with various forms of geographical mobility in societies (see Forbes-Mewett, 2020) characterised by increasing levels of spatial displacement (Cresswell, 2006; Kaufmann, 2020) and by uneven shifts in gender norms across countries and among social groups (Bornatici et al., 2021; Daly, 2020; Esping-Andersen, 2009). We define transnational mobility as a physical displacement across borders that is imbued with a wide array of meanings, imaginaries and practices (Frello, 2008; Salazar & Smart, 2011). As a complex human experience, mobility is always entangled with other aspects of the life course (CangiĆ , 2021). Here, we are particularly interested in the interplay between the experience of transnational mobility, including different forms of short- or long-term cross-border relocation, and the gender configurations of professional and family life. Our empirical studies cover a diverse selection of geographically mobile and immobile people, including those who are commonly associated with privileged forms of transnational movement (Amit, 2011) and those who are often perceived as more constrained movers.
In line with the analytical framework developed in this book, we define vulnerability as a time-sensitive process related to critical events, resources and reserves that arises when individuals have to manage challenges to their existing behaviour and beliefs. Vulnerability is thus a latent feature of contemporary life (Spini et al., 2017). It is most easily observed when critical events disturb social routines and prevent alignment with normative expectations. In the face of such challenges or āstressorsā, individuals mobilise a range of economic, social, cognitive and emotional resources to meet the immediate challenge and to avoid the risk of encountering similar threats in the future. However, according to the analytical perspective developed here, vulnerability can also provide the opportunity for innovative behaviour and enable adjustments to existing value systems, including gender norms and stereotypes. It would, therefore, be a mistake to consider vulnerability as a state that individuals seek to avoid at all costs.
Research has shown that the ability to deal with critical events is not dependent only on the quantity and nature of the resources an individual can access at the time of the event. The reserves that a person has been able to accumulate over time may also prove vital for managing life-course transitions (e.g., the birth of a child, graduation, being made redundant, a divorce, a debilitating road accident, a promotion) and mitigating their long-term consequences (Cullati et al., 2018). However, little is known about the transferability of the reserves accumulated in one geographical location to their effective use in another context, which is an issue we wanted to explore further.
In this chapter, we consider various types of spillover among different life domains. On the one hand, these can be related to the impact of an event located in a particular domain on a given individualās other life spheres, for instance, if an overseas assignment for work leads to the dissolution of a meaningful relationship or if emotional commitment to a nonmobile partner leads to the offer of an overseas assignment being turned down. On the other hand, spillover effects may be located beyond the individual at the level of ālinked livesā (Elder, 1998). For example, the career path of a female law graduate in the Global South may be determined by legal restrictions on the international mobility of her mother, who is the main provider of childcare. Finally, spillover effects may be mediated through broader social norms and expectations, beyond the individual or the household, notably when macro-level normative expectations or regulations have practical implications for the configuration of several life domains. For example, the fact that female South American migrants to Switzerland are often assigned to jobs with unsocial hours makes it difficult for migrant couples to maintain their previous (and potentially preferred) ātraditionalā pattern of division of domestic labour. This is especially true when the male partner fails to secure stable employment in the host country. Thus, due to the gendered labour market opportunities available to different migrant groups, some South American couples come to depend heavily on menās contribution to housework and childcare, leading them to adapt their previous domestic arrangements and to act in partial contradiction to the normative expectations of the South American and Swiss gender regimes (Seminario, 2011).
In the next sections, we first outline the importance of using an integrated vulnerability perspective to explore experiences of transnational mobility. After briefly presenting our research methods, we focus on the dynamics of vulnerability associated with transnational mobility, the accumulation and conversion of resources across borders, and the potential reconfiguration of gendered norms in the context of spatial displacement and relocation.
An Integrated Vulnerability-Mobility Perspective
The combined notions of vulnerability and mobility provide a useful analytical lens for studying the spillover effects among life domains experienced by different social groups. First, transnational mobility is dependent on multilevel regulation processes (e.g., national immigration laws, occupational recruitment practices and career patterns, normative expectations about moving away or remaining sedentary), which may influence individualsā ability to manage the interfacing of work and personal life spheres effectively. Second, mobility is a potential source of normative dissonance since individuals may pass through national, local, professional, or conjugal environments in which expectations differ somewhat from those they were initially socialised to āaccept as normalā in a previous context. Within a complex āconfiguration of dispositions to act and dispositions to believeā (Lahire, 2002, p. 336), mobile individuals have to navigate a succession of normative environments and manage the uncertainties associated with a plurality of gender normsĀ (Ackers, 2004; Levy & Widmer, 2013). Third, mobility raises questions regarding the accumulation or depletion of resources over time and individualsā ability to conserve or convert these resources across national and cultural boundaries. Analysing work and life trajectories that include limited or extended periods of spatial mobility enables us to understand the reconfiguration of resources and reserves at the micro-, meso- and macrosocial levels. Spatial displacement may therefore produce specific forms of spillover that may, in turn, be associated with particular configurations of vulnerability. Likewise, mobility may also open up opportunities for innovative social practices and normative adjustments that may exacerbate or protect against vulnerability processes in different life domains.
Historically, different types of spatial mobility have been treated in largely separate studies and have been associated with differential risks of vulnerability. Expatriation has often been represented as temporary and reversible, while migration has been viewed as durable and unidirectional (Al Ariss & Crowley-Henry, 2013). The transnational mobility of āhighly qualifiedā or āhighly skilled migrantsā is often associated with the accumulation of economic, social and symbolic resources and capital and individuals with more pronounced ācosmopolitanā dispositions (BĆ¼hlmann et al., 2013). In sharp contrast to the āhypermobile cosmopolitansā, who are supposed to move voluntarily to advance their careers or self-development, the literature is rife with stereotypical representations of the āvulnerableā migrant, who is forced to move and to experience the resulting depletion of socioeconomic and cultural resources.
The analytical pertinence of this distinction among different types of spatial mobility is being increasingly questioned (Hercog & Sandoz, 2018). The emergence of hybrid mobility practices, such as āself-initiated expatriationā (Doherty et al., 2013) or ācirculatory migrationā (Hugo, 2013), has led to the blurring of the analytical distinctions among different types of mobility and between āmobileā or āsedentaryā individuals or groups (Anderson, 2019). Since transnational mobility has become a normative requirement in many professional occupations (Montulet & Mincke, 2019), it can no longer be interpreted solely as a voluntary, individual career strategy (CangiĆ , 2019; Sautier, 2021). It thus follows that the challenges posed by the geographical relocation of those commonly considered to be moving under āprivilegedā circumstances can be addressed in similar terms to those that previously prevailed in the broad field of migration studies (Ravasi et al., 2015). Likewise, analysis of the material and symbolic resources accumulated over time by geographically mobile individuals in their host and home countries (Repetti et al., 2021; Seminario & Le Feuvre, 2021b) provides a clearer understanding of the circulation of risks, resources and protections, across national borders and between generations, over the entire life course. The cultural challenges posed by return migration practices can be apprehended with the analytical tools initially developed to study the cumulative dis/advantages associated with corporate expatriation (Davoine et al., 2018).
The burgeoning literature on transnational careers (Joy et al., 2020), transnational families (Baldassar & Merla, 2013), transnational social networks for specific social groups (Cousin & Chauvin, 2014; Chimienti et al., 2018) and global care chains (Hochschild, 2014) reflects the increasingly integrated approach to mobility as a social practice that has inspired our LIVES research program. We focused on mobile people with varied levels of skills and qualifications, including assigned and self-initiated expatriates, artists, diplomats, foreign graduates, early career stage academics, onward migrants and highly skilled refugees. In line with the analytical framework developed by LIVES (see Spini & Widmer, in this volume), we avoided considering certain types of mobility as a particular source of vulnerability or certain mobile individuals as being necessarily more vulnerable than others. Instead, we examined the challenges associated with any form of geographical displacement and sought to understand how different categories of mobile (and sedentary) people deal with particular critical events. Our research was inspired by an intersectional perspective and sought to understand how different dimensions of social stratification (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, class and ethnicity) facilitate or hinder such responses and influence their consequences over time.
Research Methods
The research presented in this chapter incorporated a mixed methods design, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection tools. All of the studies used biographical interviews in conjunction with a series of complementary data collection tools, including face-to-face or online surveys, adapted versions of the LIVES life-event calendars (see Berchtold & Morselli in this volume; Morselli et al., 2016), dyadic couple interviews, focus groups, ego-centred network analysis, occupational case studies or ethnographic observations. Beyond their specific research questions, all studies aimed to understand the interplay among transnational mobility, national and occupation-level gender regimes (Boni-Le Goff & Le Feuvre, 2017) and gender arrangements at different stages of the life course. The studies highlighted the differentiated effects of transnational mobility on gendered vulnerabilities and sought to shed light on the complexity of spillover effects both among life domains and among individuals whose mobile lives are ālinkedā in some way.
This chapter builds on this analytical framework to address three distinct research questions, which all explore a spillover effect of some kind. In the first section, we consider the role of spatial mobility in the requirement that individuals navigate a range of potentially divergent normative gender regimes in the course of their mobile life course. In a second section, we address the accumulation or depletion of material and symbolic resources as individuals move among a range of geographical locations over time. Finally, we provide empirical evidence of the impact of spatial mobility on the ability of individuals and households to deal with critical events and to recover from these in the course of their successive relocations.
Navigating Normative Gender Regimes across Time and Space
Transnationally mobile individuals have to navigate different normative environments that may hold a variety of implications, both for the spillover effects among different life domains and for the influence of critical events that affect one individual on the vulnerability of other household members, particularly an intimate partner or spouse. Our research focused particularly on the potentially divergent gender norms associated with the different contexts that our mobile respondents navigate in the course of their adult lives. This issue is framed through the notion of a āgender regimeā (Connell, 1987), defined as the normative environments that shape gendered aspirations, expectations and representations in a given historical and societal context (Le Feuvre, 2010). This definition implies that in different national contexts, particular gender arrangements are preferred over others, and that people are actively encouraged to conform to these norms through a variety of material and symbolic mechanisms (e.g., taxation systems, availability of childcare facilities, shop opening hours, working time arrangements, cultural representations of motherhood) that tend to reinforce dominant value systems and stereotypes. Conformity to these arrangements is associated with a series of rewards, and aspirations for an alternative lifestyle may be difficult to enact (BĆ¼hlmann et al., 2010) or may come at great material, symbolic or emotional cost to the individuals concerned (Le Feuvre, 1999).
Previous research has acknowledged the diversity of these normative gender arrangements, which are usually defined with the help of typologies, each designed to highlight a particular aspect of the gender differentiation process (e.g., welfare regimes, care regimes, family regimes). Previous studies have demonstrated the forceful character of national-level gender contracts (Connell, 1987) and gender cultures (Pfau-Effinger, 1998), which are usually characterised according to the legitimacy given to womenās labour market participation, particularly in the presence of young children. Western gender regimes typically range from a ādual earner/dual carerā model, promoted in some Nordic countries, to a āmale breadwinner/female carerā model, characteristic of Western European countries with a historically strong manufacturing base (e.g., Germany, Austria, Switzerland). The Nordic gender regime is based on a universal, āadult workerā model of social integration, with limited reciprocal influence of the life chances of men and women, even when they live together and share parenthood. This relative autonomy is guaranteed by the widespread provision of publicly funded services to support individuals in the management of their āwork-life interfaceā, with the explicit aim of reducing social inequalities. By contrast, the āmale breadwinner/female carerā model of gender relations, based on highly differentiated social roles or āmaster statusā, (KrĆ¼ger & Levy, 2001) for men and women, depends more on the married couple as a basic unit of social integration and regulation and implies a greater degree of interdependence and mutual influence of the life paths of those individuals who enter into intimate relationships, adopt common living arrangements and share parental responsibilities. Such is also the case for the āmodified male breadwinnerā model that has emerged in some European countries, based on womenās large-scale integration into employment but on a part-time and/or discontinuous basis across the life course (Crompton, 1999), thereby leading to particular risks of vulnerability for women in later life (Le Feuvre et al., 2015). Fourth, the so-called āMediterraneanā gender regime (Sanchez-Mira & OāReilly, 2019) extends the perimeter of mutual dependence beyond the conjugal unit to impose reciprocal duties or care and subsistence within the extended family network, with only limited support provided by the state. Finally, the so-called āLiberalā model of social protection, prevalent in the US and the UK, combines the individualistic rationale of the Nordic model with an assurance-based provision of social services, thereby leading to greater diversity in the ability of individuals to reduce their dependence on their spouse and close family members for support and higher levels of social inequality (Scott et al., 2010; Daly, 2020).
Other regions are obviously characterised by even more diverse normative gender regimes, and these regimes have considerable consequences for the conditions under which individuals experience spatial displacement, particularly at ācriticalā moments in the life course, such as the transition to parenthood (Le Goff & Levy, 2016), divorce, widowhood or retirement (Oesch, 2008; Repetti et al., 2021). Navigating diverse normative environments is a clear challenge for transnationally mobile individuals and constitutes a potential source of uncertainty and vulnerability for individuals, couples and families (Tissot, 2020).
Furthermore, recent research has stressed that, within a given national context, different occupations may selectively integrate and adapt elements of these societal-level āgender regimesā into their specific recruitment, remuneration and promotion practices, thus creating meso-level variation in the normative expectations placed on male and female workers (Le Feuvre, 2010; Boni-Le Goff & Le Feuvre, 2017). For example, research has shown that multinational companies located in Switzerland have developed a range of measures to support expatriate dual-career couples (Salamin & Davoine, 2015). These measures are generally appreciated by the internationally mobile staff of these companies, who are able to escape many of the constraints placed on the parents of young children in the Swiss context, where the majority of mothers still exit the labour market or drastically reduce their working hours (BĆ¼hlmann et al., 2010). Nonetheless, the adoption of specifically āexpatā gender arrangements may significantly damage the ability of these mobile individuals to establish links with the local population and to adapt to the normative environment of the host country (Ravasi et al., 2015). In turn, this lack of integration may make it difficult for the members of these expatriate dual-career couples to overcome certain critical events (e.g., the illness of a spouse or child, divorce, redundancy), thereby leading to an exacerbated form of vulnerability through nonconformity to the local gender regime.
Exploring the ways in which mobile individuals navigate and negotiate the potentially convergent or divergent normative environments through which they pass is central to the research programme developed here. While some colleagues in LIVES have used the notion of āmisleading normsā (Widmer & Spini, 2017) to capture the long-term (negative) consequences of conformity to specific gender norms, our intention has been, rather, to understand how people adapt to the different normative environments through which they may pass in the course of their mobile lives (Carlson & Schneickert, 2021; MozetiÄ, 2018; Eastmond, 2011). We are interested not only in the long-term vulnerabilities associated with adherence to the dominant norms in a specific time and place but also in the challenges and stressors associated with the potential mismatch between the gender norms to which people were expected to conform in one particular context (country, occupation, company) at a particular point in their life course and those that prevail in the other spaces to or through which they subsequently move (Nedelcu, 2012).
These adjustment processes are often mediated through macro-level social structures. A study conducted with highly qualified Syrian refugees in Switzerland (CangiĆ et al., 2021) illustrated the effect of their legal status on their experiences of gender norms and family life in the host country. It is well documented that refugees face the risk of downwards mobility and status loss as a result of forced migration. These changes in their professional life are often accompanied by their encounter with quite different gender arrangements than those experienced in their home country (Kirk, 2010). Contrary to popular belief, the gender norms that regulate womenās access to the labour market in the Swiss context are not necessarily more progressive than those experienced before migration (Bermudez, 2013). Refugees from middle-class backgrounds who had a stable professional life before their departure from Syria are sometimes confronted with more conservative gender expectations in their host country (Jansen, 2008). Thus, male Syrian refugees to Switzerland frequently report having lost financial independence, something that was closely associated with their social status and gender identity before migration. The experiences of female Syrian refugees are more ambivalent. Most of our respondents had an independent and successful professional career before forced migration. Their discovery of the Swiss gender regime is unexpected and challenging. On the one hand, these women recognise that, in certain life domains (e.g., marital arrangements, contraception, parenthood), they have potentially more freedom in Switzerland than in Syria. On the other hand, they are often confronted with restrictions to their professional careers due to gender stereotyping that is aggravated by their refugee status. Women who were formerly lawyers, medical doctors, engineers or civil servants in Syria are often encouraged by Swiss social workers to lower their professional ambitions and to accept the kinds of jobs to which migrant women are usually assigned, specifically in the care and hospitality sectors (Seminario, 2011, 2018a). This revision of their career expectations has obvious implications for their domestic arrangements, especially when the delegation of daily household duties to paid domestic staff or extended family members is no longer a viable option.
The Conversion of Resources across National Borders
The transnational mobility of highly skilled migrantsāespecially for those coming from the Global Northāis often seen as a positive experience leading to the accumulation of resources and skills and thus the constitution of long-term reserves (Cullati et al., 2018). It is often assumed that certain forms of transnational mobility can buffer against stressors and thus reduce vulnerability processes. Successive experiences of migration or travel, transnational social (i.e., family and friendship) networks, foreign-language skills, and internationally recognised educational qualifications may all constitute āresourcesā that can be mobilised in numerous contexts and that may constitute ācosmopolitan predispositionsā that favour future mobility.
However, not all forms of mobility are associated with the accumulation of material and symbolic resources (Amit, 2011; Salazar & Smart, 2011). There is increasing recognition of the multiple vulnerabilities associated with geographical displacement, even for the most privileged members of society. One of the major challenges encountered by geographically mobile individuals is the recognition of their previous qualifications and experiences in the country of settlement (Iredale, 2001; Joy et al., 2020). Thus, highly qualified corporate expatriates do not always benefit from the subsequent recognition of the skills acquired during their missions abroad, even when they remain within the same company (Davoine et al., 2018). The mismatch between previously acquired resources and the requirements of the new environment is a challenge faced by many geographically mobile individuals and often reduces their ability to mobilise their previously accumulated cultural, social and economic resources to mitigate stressors and overcome critical events. Several empirical studies have enabled us to identify a potential barrier to the constitution of reserves on the part of geographically mobile individuals. Even within the same company, language skills or professional networks are not easy to transfer from one subsidiary to another. The development of informal transnational professional networks within companies can facilitate these transfers (Davoine et al., 2018), but women often find it harder to access such networks, which are usually designed primarily by and for men.
Not all resources that have been accumulated in different societal contexts are as effective for overcoming the āstressorsā associated with biographical events in subsequent spatial settings. In turn, variations in the transnational conversion and sustainability of previously accumulated resources have important implications for the spillover effects of geographical displacement, both among the different life spheres of mobile individuals and among individuals whose mobile lives are ālinkedā in some way.
Critical Life Events on the Move
Previous research has explored the implications of transnational relocation for managing the work-life interface, particularly regarding family formation patterns and gender equality issues (CangiĆ et al., 2019; RiaƱo & Baghdadi, 2007). This work has stressed the implications of the geographical displacement of one individual for the lives of other family members. A similar ālinked livesā perspective has been used in the field of highly skilled migration or expatriation research to analyse the influence of international career mobility on the life chances and career perspectives of partners or other close relatives (Mancini-Vonlanthen, 2021; Salamin & Hanappi, 2014), who may not necessarily conform to the common image of the ātrailing spouseā (CangiĆ , 2018; Davoine et al., 2013).
In our LIVES research, we used biographical interviews and life-event calendars to explore how men and women redefine and reconfigure their priorities, preferences and practices at different stages of their mobile life course (Seminario, 2018b; Mancini-Vonlanthen, 2021). For example, previous research has explored the gendered dimension of transnational mobility and has identified the āmobility imperativeā as a potential source of inequality (Schaer et al., 2017; Jƶns, 2011). Most professional occupations define career paths and expectations based on the symbolic figure of the ācare-lessā male (Lynch, 2010). Highly skilled workers, particularly those singled out for recognition and promotion, are expected to be entirely free of care and domestic commitments and therefore entirely āfree to moveā as the company requires. This presumption often creates a bias against (married) women. On the one hand, due to the persistently unequal gender division of domestic labour, women are more likely than their male counterparts to be spatially ārootedā by care duties, including geographically localised access to informal support networks (Viry et al., 2015). On the other hand, even when they are single and childless, women are perceived as being āpotentially tied downā by the domestic and care duties that they are expected to have at some point in the future.
However, there is a dynamic aspect of these normative expectations. In most European countries, women are increasingly being given the opportunity to develop their skills and career opportunities through corporate expatriation schemes. Nevertheless, as Salamin (2021) has shown, the relative āadvantageā these women enjoy in comparison to their married counterparts may have negative spillover effects on their ability to establish durable intimate relationships and to satisfy their own parental aspirations. In the host country, single female expatriates may be expected to accept long hours precisely because they have no ālegitimate reasonā to benefit from any existing family-friendly policies. As a result, they may find it hard to adapt to the normative rhythm of local life and thus may be excluded from opportunities to socialise, build up friendship networks and eventually meet a potential partner. The advantages of being single and childless for the accumulation of professional skills may thus translate, over time, into disadvantages for the realisation of personal goals (Salamin, 2021), illustrating one possible configuration of the spillover effect between life domains.
Furthermore, despite significant shifts in the gender division of domestic labour in most Western societies over the past several decades (Sullivan & Gershuny, 2016), the ideal figure of the āunencumberedā male worker continues to be opposed to the archetypical ātrailing female spouseā, who is expected to follow and support the mobile male partner as he moves around the globe to enhance his career chances and accumulate resources (Callan & Ardener, 1984). However, the increase in womenās share of self-initiated and corporate expatriation and an increase in dual-career couple configurations (Salamin, 2021) is challenging the traditional vision of transnational mobility as an unequivocal āresourceā for men and an inevitable source of āvulnerabilityā for women. Some studies have recognised the growing presence of ādual-career couplesā in which both partners negotiate their work trajectories to continue their careers on the move (Mancini-Vonlanthen, 2021). In such cases, the experience of transnational mobility can prevent women from pursuing an independent career (Cooke, 2001; VohlĆdalovĆ”, 2017), but it can also challenge previously established āconservativeā gender arrangements (Coles & Fechter, 2012; CangiĆ et al., 2019).
For example, a study of internationally mobile couples currently working in Switzerland identified the importance of a āsense of belonging to a dual-career coupleā (Mancini-Vonlanthen, 2021, p. 25) in determining intervieweesā career outcomes. This study of sixteen heterosexual couples with at least one partner on an academic career path showed how a shared and long-term commitment to egalitarian gender arrangements within these households acted as a resource that might buffer the risks of professional downgrading otherwise faced by the female members of these internationally mobile couples. In a similar vein, other studies have revealed the pragmatic strategy of prioritising the job opportunities of whichever partner can enable the couple best to avoid the inherent precariousness of the geographically mobile postdoc period. In this case, mobility decisions are made, and some job offers are even refused, on the explicit understanding that neither partner should have to āsacrificeā his or her career for the sake of āthe familyā (Bataille et al., 2017).
Likewise, a qualitative study of men and women accompanying their professionally mobile partners to China and Switzerland has shown that male partners sometimes support the international career ambitions of their female spouse by quitting their jobs and taking care of the children (Suter & CangiĆ , 2020). Similar ācouple strategiesā or domestic arrangements have been observed in the German and Swiss contexts (Tissot, 2020). Some men struggle to find employment in the destination country, where they may start to experience the work-family interface in new and alternative ways, leading to a durable revision of the couplesā gender arrangements. However, the role of āaccompanying spouseā does not always open up such opportunities for revising gender norms. Sometimes, apparently transgressive practices, such as the male partner āfollowingā a female spouse abroad, are renormalised through the definition of an exclusively male ātrailing spouseā repertoire. In a study of the spouses accompanying Swiss diplomats on foreign assignments, Davoine and his colleagues noted that male spouses rarely took charge of the daily household management, whereas this was a particularly common option for their female counterparts. These men tended to emphasise their specific role in providing moral and psychological support and sometimes protection to their female partners, thus recasting their atypical behaviour in line with gender stereotypes (Davoine et al., 2013).
This capacity for realigning transgressive gender initiatives with the normative expectations of the host country was confirmed by the results of a study of Peruvian men and women who had earned a degree from a Swiss higher education institution (Seminario & Le Feuvre,Ā 2021a, 2021b). The biographical data collected from interviews with these highly skilled migrants revealed the role of national migration policies in determining gender-differentiated career outcomes in the host country, even when migrants hold Swiss qualifications (see also RiaƱo & Baghdadi, 2007). In Switzerland, foreign graduates can benefit from a 6-month visa extension to secure stable employment with the active patronage of a potential employer. This extension clause is well suited to the usual timing of recruitment processes in the least feminised sectors of the Swiss labour market, notably for engineering graduates, who are in high demand. Male migrants who follow a typically masculine educational route are therefore advantaged by the visa extension clause and benefit from employer sponsorship, irrespective of their domestic arrangements or parental status. In contrast, women graduating from the most feminised educational fields (social sciences, social work, etc.) are less likely to receive the required patronage within the given period. They usually have to pass through a series of extended āschool-to-work transitionā phases, including unpaid work placements, before securing a permanent job. Because of the mismatch between Swiss migration laws and these gendered recruitment processes, migrant female graduates are less likely than their male counterparts to receive a job offer within the 6-month visa extension period. They are therefore much more dependent on the alternative āfamily reunificationā route into permanent resident status in Switzerland. However, for these women, marriage to a Swiss or European national represents an uncertain route to eventually securing a job that is congruent with their educational credentials. According to the domestic arrangements adopted within their binational households, family reunification measures can represent a potential threat to career success for these highly qualified female migrants: āThe more unequal the organisation of domestic care work within their households, the less likely [these women are] to benefit from the stability and extended time scale provided by family reunification measures to consolidate their transition to the upper reaches of the Swiss labour marketā (Seminario & Le Feuvre,Ā 2021a, 2021b, p. 224).
This example provides a good illustration of the potential variation in spillover effects according to the gendered impact of macro-level regulations on men and women. On the one hand, men who graduate from highly masculinised fields of study succeed in their transition to the labour market independently of their domestic arrangements (and not, as the literature often suggests, thanks to the domestic support of their female partners). They experience no family-employment spillover effect (Seminario & Le FeuvreĀ 2021a, 2021b). On the other hand, this effect is vital for female graduates: Being in a stable relationship and accepting marriage to a Swiss or European national is both a necessary condition for them to remain in Switzerland long enough to secure employment and (at the same time) a potential hindrance to their career progression. In other words, the spillover effect of educational credentials on the professional careers of male and female graduates is unevenly mediated by macro-level migration regulations and by their respective domestic arrangements.
Conclusions
This chapter proposes a multilevel perspective on mobility and vulnerability, with a special focus on the gender dynamics that emerge at the interface of professional and family life. It has considered the potential effects of geographical relocation on the spillover among life domains and among individuals whose lives are linked in some way. We have used transnational mobility as a lens through which to explore the impact that an event in a particular domain can exert on an individualās engagement in other life spheres. However, we have also been attentive to the spillover effects that are located beyond the individual life path, particularly within professional careers and domestic arrangements. We have seen how spillover effects may be mediated through broader social norms and expectations, beyond the individual or the household. The case of transnational mobility seems especially interesting in this regard, considering that mobility may potentially create normative dissonance as individuals move from one social context to another.
Our studies have explored vulnerability in the life course of populations who experienced self-initiated expatriation and corporate assignments that are not usually associated with the challenges of forced migration (Hercog & Sandoz, 2018). We have stressed the complex interplay of subjective values and structural constraints in determining the ability of men and women to resist relegation to ātraditionalā gender roles at strategic points in the life course, particularly after a critical event. We have confirmed the need to reject the binary distinction between āunequalā and āegalitarianā domestic arrangements in life-course research (KƤnsƤlƤ et al., 2015). Our results suggest that, particularly in the case of geographically mobile individuals, commitment to a particular set of gender norms and the adoption of specific gender arrangements are not determined only once but rather emerge in line with āopportunity factorsā (e.g., job offers, equal-opportunity measures at the national or occupational level, availability and cost of support for dual-career couples) encountered in the local environments through which individuals pass at specific, more-or-less critical moments in their life course.
Thus, we have explored the potentially diverse effects of geographical displacement on both the domestic arrangements and the career paths of geographically mobile individuals. We have confirmed that, irrespective of the āvoluntaryā or āconstrainedā nature of transnational mobility, it is a potential source of vulnerability that poses challenges of adjustment, integration and resource conversion or depletion. However, our empirical studies have also revealed that mobility does not inevitably reinforce conventional gender norms and practices. Although some forms of geographical displacement may be associated with the ātraditionalisationā of gender arrangements, our empirical studies stress the variety of potential outcomes, including atypical gender configurations, that are associated with the uncertainties and unpredictable nature of life on the move.
References
Ackers, L. (2004). Managing relationships in peripatetic careers: Scientific mobility in the European Union. Womenās Studies International Forum, 27(3), 189ā201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2004.03.001
Al Ariss, A., & Crowley-Henry, M. (2013). Self-initiated expatriation and migration in the management literature: Present theorizations and future research directions. Career Development International, 18(1), 78ā96.
Amit, V. (Ed.). (2011). Going first class? New approaches to privileged travel and movement. Berghahn Books.
Anderson, B. (2019). New directions in migration studies: Towards methodological de-nationalism. Comparative Migration Studies, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-019-0140-8
Baldassar, L., & Merla, L. (2013). Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care: Understanding mobility and absence in family life. Routledge.
Bataille, P., Le Feuvre, N., & Kradolfer, S. (2017). Should I Stay or Should I Go? The effects of precariousness on the gendered career aspirations of postdocs in Switzerland. European Educational Research Journal, Special Issue Work-Life Interferences in Scientific Careers, 16(2ā3), 313ā331. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904116673372
Bermudez, A. (2013). A gendered perspective on the arrival and settlement of Colombian refugees in the United Kingdom. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(7), 1159ā1175. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.778139
Boni-Le Goff, I., & Le Feuvre, N. (2017). Professions from a gendered perspective. In Oxford research encyclopedia of business and management. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.8
Bornatici, C., Gauthier, J.-A., & Le Goff, J.-M. (2021). Les attitudes envers lāĆ©galitĆ© des genres en Suisse, 2000ā2017. Social Change, 25. https://doi.org/10.13094/SMIF-2021-00001
BĆ¼hlmann, F., David, T., & Mach, A. (2013). Cosmopolitan capital and the internationalization of the field of business elites: Evidence from the Swiss case. Cultural Sociology, 7(2), 211ā229. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975512473587
BĆ¼hlmann, F., Elcheroth, G., & Tettamanti, M. (2010). The division of labour among European couples: The effects of life course and welfare policy on valueāpractice configurations. European Sociological Review, 26(1), 49ā66. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcp004
Callan, H., & Ardener, S. (1984). The incorporated wife. Croom Helm.
CangiĆ , F. (2018). Precarity, imagination and the mobile life of the āTrailing Spouseā. Ethos, 46(1), 8ā26.
CangiĆ , F. (2019). āSwitzerland doesnāt want meā. Work, precarity and emotions for mobile professionalsā partners. Migration Letters, 16, 207ā217.
CangiĆ , F. (2021). Liminal moves. Travelling along places, meanings and times. Berghahn Books.
CangiĆ , F., Davoine, E., & Tashtish, S. (2021). (Im)mobilities, waiting and professional aspirations: The career lives of highly skilled Syrian refugees in Switzerland. Geoforum, 125, 57ā65.
CangiĆ , F., Zittoun, T., & Levitan, D. (2019). Work and geographical mobility: The case of the male accompanying spouses. In P. Bendassoli (Ed.), Culture, work and psychology: Invitations to dialogue (Vol. 3, pp. 159ā182). Information Age Publishing.
Carlson, S., & Schneickert, C. (2021). Habitus in the context of transnationalization: From ātransnational habitusā to a configuration of dispositions and fields. The Sociological Review (online). https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261211021778
Chimienti, M., Counilh, A.-L., & Ossipow, L. (2018). Second generation from refugee backgrounds: Affects and transnational ties and practices to the ancestral homeland. In Forced migration (pp. 145ā162). Routledge.
Coles, A., & Fechter, A.-M. (2012). Gender and family among transnational professionals. Routledge.
Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Stanford University Press.
Cooke, T. J. (2001). āTrailing wifeā or ātrailing motherā? The effect of parental status on the relationship between family migration and the labor-market participation of married women. Environment and Planning, 33(3), 419ā430.
Cousin, B., & Chauvin, S. (2014). Globalizing forms of elite sociability: Varieties of cosmopolitanism in Paris social clubs. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(12), 2209ā2225.
Cresswell, T. (2006). On the move: Mobility in the modern Western world. Routledge.
Crompton, R. (Ed.). (1999). Restructuring gender relations and employment: The decline of the male breadwinner. Oxford University Press.
Cullati, S., Kliegel, M., & Widmer, E. (2018). Development of reserves over the life course and onset of vulnerability in later life. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(8), 551ā558. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0395-3
Daly, M. (2020). Gender inequality and welfare states in Europe. Edward Elgar.
Davoine, E., Barmeyer, C., & Rossi, C. (2018). Retaining repatriate knowledge at the crossroads between global knowledge management and global talent management. Management International/International Management/GestiĆ²n Internacional, 22, 142ā154.
Davoine, E., Ravasi, C., Salamin, X., & CudrĆ©-Mauroux, C. (2013). A āDramaturgicalā analysis of spouse role enactment in expatriation: An exploratory gender comparative study in the diplomatic and consular field. Journal of Global Mobility, 1(1), 92ā112. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-09-2012-0005
Doherty, N., Richardson, J., & Thorn, K. (2013). Self-initiated expatriation and self-initiated expatriates: Clarification of the research stream. Career Development International, 18(1), 97ā112.
Eastmond, M. (2011). Egalitarian ambitions, constructions of difference: The paradoxes of refugee integration in Sweden. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(2), 277ā295. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2010.521323
Elder, G. H. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69(1), 1ā12. https://doi.org/10.2307/1132065
Esping-Andersen, G. (2009). The incomplete revolution: Adapting to womenās new roles. Polity Press.
Forbes-Mewett, H. (Ed.). (2020). Vulnerability in a mobile world. Emerald Publishing.
Frello, B. (2008). Towards a discursive analytics of movement: On the making and unmaking of movement as an object of knowledge. Mobilities, 3(1), 25ā50. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450100701797299
Hercog, M., & Sandoz, L. (2018). Highly skilled or highly wanted migrants? Conceptualizations, policy designs and implementations of high-skilled migration policies. Migration Letters, 15(4), 453ā460. https://doi.org/10.33182/ml.v15i4.534
Hochschild, A. R. (2014). Global care chains and emotional surplus value. In D. Engster & T. Metz (Eds.), Justice, politics, and the family. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315633794
Hugo, G. (2013). What we know about circular migration and enhanced mobility. Migration Policy Institute, 7, 1ā10.
Iredale, R. (2001). The migration of professionals: Theories and typologies. International Migration, 39(5), 7ā26. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2435.00169
Jansen, S. (2008). Misplaced masculinities: Status loss and the location of gendered subjectivities amongst ānon-transnationalā Bosnian refugees. Anthropological Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499608090790
Jƶns, H. (2011). Transnational academic mobility and gender. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(2), 183ā209. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2011.577199
Joy, S., Game, A. M., & Toshniwal, I. G. (2020). Applying Bourdieuās capital-field-habitus framework to migrant careers: Taking stock and adding a transnational perspective. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(20), 2541ā2564.
KƤnsƤlƤ, M., MƤkelƤ, L., & Suutari, V. (2015). Career coordination strategies among dual career expatriate couples. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(17), 2187ā2210.
Kaufmann, V. (2020). Social implications of spatial mobilities. In Handbook of urban mobilities (pp. 277ā284). Routledge.
Kirk, J. (2010). Gender, forced migration and education: Identities and experiences of refugee women teachers. Gender and Education, 22(2), 161ā176. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540251003606925
KrĆ¼ger, H., & Levy, R. (2001). Linking life courses, work, and the family: Theorizing a not so visible nexus between women and men. Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.2307/3341676
Lahire, B. (2002). Portraits sociologiques. Dispositions et variations individuelles. Nathan.
Le Feuvre, N. (1999). Gender, occupational feminization and reflexivity: A cross-national perspective. In R. Crompton (Ed.), Restructuring gender relations and employment: The decline of the male breadwinner (pp. 150ā178). Oxford University Press.
Le Feuvre, N. (2010). Feminising professions in Britain and France: How countries differ. In J. Scott, R. Crompton, & C. Lyonette (Eds.), Gender inequalities in the 21st century: New barriers and continuing constraints (pp. 126ā149). Edward Elgar.
Le Feuvre, N., Kuehni, M., Rosende, M., & Schoeni, C. (2015). Gendered variations in the experience of ageing at work in Switzerland. Equality, Diversity, Inclusion: An International Journal, 34(2), 168ā181. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2014-0017
Le Goff, J.-M., & Levy, R. (Eds.). (2016). Devenir parents, devenir inĆ©gaux. Transition Ć la parentalitĆ© et inĆ©galitĆ©s de genre. Seismo.
Levy, R., & Widmer, E. D. (Eds.). (2013). Gendered life courses between standardization and individualization: A European approach applied to Switzerland. Verlag.
Lynch, K. (2010). Carelessness: A hidden doxa of higher education. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 9(1), 54ā67. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022209350104
Mancini-Vonlanthen, N. (2021). Career difficulties and strategies of female self-initiated expatriates and self-initiated expatriate couples in Switzerland. PhD thesis, University of Fribourg/NCCR LIVES.
Montulet, B., & Mincke, C. (2019). La sociĆ©tĆ© sans rĆ©pit: La mobilitĆ© comme injonction. Ćditions de la Sorbonne.
Morselli, D., Dasoki, N., Gabriel, R., Gauthier, J.-A., Henke, J., & Le Goff, J.-M. (2016). Using life history calendars to survey vulnerability. In M. Oris, C. Roberts, D. Joye, & M. Ernst-StƤhli (Eds.), Surveying human vulnerabilities across the life course (pp. 179ā201). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24157-9
MozetiÄ, K. (2018). Being highly skilled and a refugee: Self-perceptions of non-European physicians in Sweden. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 37(2), 231ā251. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdy001
Nedelcu, M. (2012). Migrantsā new transnational habitus: Rethinking migration through a cosmopolitan lens in the digital age. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9), 1339ā1356.
Oesch, D. (2008). Stratifying welfare states: Class differences in pension coverage in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Swiss Journal of Sociology, 34(3), 533ā554.
Pfau-Effinger, B. (1998). Gender cultures and the gender arrangement. A theoretical framework for cross-national gender research. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 11, 147ā166. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.1998.9968559
Ravasi, C., Salamin, X., & Davoine, E. (2015). Cross-cultural adjustment of skilled migrants in a multicultural and multilingual environment: An explorative study of foreign employees and their spouses in the Swiss context. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(10), 1335ā1359. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2014.985328
Repetti, M., Calasanti, T., & Phillipson, C. (Eds.) (2021). Ageing and Migration in a Global Context: Challenges for Welfare States. Springer Nature Switzerland.
RiaƱo, Y., & Baghdadi, N. (2007). Understanding the labour market participation of skilled immigrant women in Switzerland: The interplay of class, ethnicity, and gender. Journal of International Migration and Integration / Revue de lāintegration et de La Migration Internationale, 8(2), 163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-007-0012-1
Salamin, X. (2021). Specific work-life issues of single and childless female expatriates: An exploratory study in the Swiss context. Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 9(2), 166ā190. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-07-2020-0052
Salamin, X., & Davoine, E. (2015). International adjustment of female vs male business expatriates. A replication study in Switzerland. Journal of Global Mobility, 3(2), 183ā212.
Salamin, X., & Hanappi, D. (2014). Women and international assignments: A systematic literature review exploring textual data by correspondence analysis. Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 2(3), 343ā374. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-09-2013-0058
Salazar, N., & Smart, A. (2011). Anthropological takes on (im)mobility. Identities, 18(6), iāix. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2012.683674
Sanchez-Mira, N., & OāReilly, J. (2019). Household employment and the crisis in Europe. Work, Employment & Society, 33(3), 422ā443. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018809324
Sautier, M. (2021, May). Move or perish? Sticky mobilities in the Swiss academic context. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00722-7
Schaer, M., Dahinden, J., & Toader, A. (2017). Transnational mobility among early-career academics: Gendered aspects of negotiations and arrangements within heterosexual couples. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(8), 1292ā1307. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1300254
Scott, J., Crompton, R., & Lyonette, C. (Eds.). (2010). Gender inequalities in the 21st century: New barriers and continuing constraints (pp. 126ā149). Edward Elgar.
Seminario, R. (2011). Travail rĆ©munĆ©rĆ© et non rĆ©munĆ©rĆ© de ācareā chez les migrantes pĆ©ruviennes en Suisse romande. Master dissertation, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne.
Seminario, R. (2018a). Migratory life-courses and social networks: Peruvian men and women in Switzerland. PhD thesis, Lausanne University.
Seminario, R. (2018b). The transnational education to employment transition: Peruvian women and men professional and family trajectories in Switzerland. Journal of International Mobility, 6(1), 191ā210. https://doi.org/10.3917/jim.006.0191
Seminario, R., & Le Feuvre, N. (2021a). Snakes and ladders: The combined effect of education and marriage on the employment trajectories of Peruvian migrants in Switzerland. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 22, 205ā226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-019-00730-8
Seminario, R., & Le Feuvre, N. (2021b). Anticipating retirement in the context of migration: The case of Peruvians in Switzerland. In T. Calasanti, C. Phillipson, & M. Repetti (Eds.), Ageing and migration in a global context: Challenges for welfare states. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-71442-0.
Spini, D., Bernardi, L., & Oris, M. (2017). Vulnerability across the life course. Research in Human Development, 14(1), 1ā4. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2016.1268891
Sullivan, O., & Gershuny, J. (2016). Change in spousal human capital and housework: A longitudinal analysis. European Sociological Review, 32(6), 864ā880. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcw043
Suter, B., & CangiĆ , F. (2020). Time and family on the move: āAccompanying partnersā in geographical mobility. Time & Society, 29(3), 813ā835. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X19897431
Tissot, F. (2020). Doing family on the move: Highly skilled migrants in Switzerland and Germany. Peter Lang.
Viry, G., Vincent-Geslin, S., & Kaufmann, V. (2015). Family development and high mobility: Gender inequality. In High mobility in EuropeāWork and personal life (pp. 153ā179). Palgrave Macmillan.
VohlĆdalovĆ”, M. (2017). Academic couples, parenthood and womenās research careers. European Educational Research Journal, 16(2ā3), 166ā182. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904116668883
Widmer, E. D., & Spini, D. (2017). Misleading norms and vulnerability in the life course: Definition and illustrations. Research in Human Development, 14(1), 52ā67. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2016.1268894
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
Copyright information
Ā© 2023 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Le Feuvre, N., Davoine, E., CangiĆ , F. (2023). When Mobility Meets Gender in the Transnational Life-Course. In: Spini, D., Widmer, E. (eds) Withstanding Vulnerability throughout Adult Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4567-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4567-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-4566-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-4567-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)