The question of where women expats are most and least satisfied with their career is based on a survey of almost 9,000 respondents which incorporated a number of issues related to job prospects, work-life balance, and job security.
Czech Republic the winner
Results show that from the perspective of foreign women working abroad who were interviewed, the CR is the best country. "The Czech Republic is constantly improving in the ranking of the best countries for working women," said Kathrin Chudoba, head of communications at InterNations. While the CR occupied 26th place in 2015, in the most recent survey conducted by Expat Insider it was voted the best. At present, women from other countries are significantly more satisfied with their work in the CR.
Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and New Zealand are also well placed. "These countries rank in the top ten in terms of working women from abroad. Women's satisfaction with their work-life balance, working time or work safety is above average in these countries," Chudoba said.
The other end of the scale
Greece was at the opposite end of the survey, with Italy just slightly better. "More than half of the women in Greece and Italy rate their career prospects negatively," Chudoba said. Greece ranked last for the fourth consecutive year: altogether, 37% of foreign women living there gave it the worst possible rating. Given the economic situation in the country, this is not surprising: 81% of respondents have negative feelings about the state of the Greek economy.
Italy is in a similar situation: 34% of women are dissatisfied with their job and 50% with work-life balance. Another 26% said their income in Italy is much lower than in similar jobs in their country of origin.
United States of America
The United States did not emerge from the survey with flying colours, ranking 29th out of a total of 57 countries. According to the survey, only 53% of foreigners are satisfied with their job security. On the other hand, with regard to job prospects, women working in the US are much more satisfied than women expats working elsewhere.
Rankings and a comparison of the 10 best and 10 worst countries for expat working women appear in the following two tables.
10 countries where foreign women have the best working conditions | ||||||||||
Satisfaction (%) - State | Czech Republic | Bahrain | Taiwan | Norway | Denmark | Luxembourg | New Zealand | Netherlands | Malta | Australia |
Career prospects | 73 | 66 | 66 | 50 | 49 | 56 | 51 | 58 | 58 | 65 |
Balance of work and private life | 79 | 77 | 77 | 75 | 82 | 65 | 78 | 73 | 70 | 70 |
Safety | 78 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 61 | 70 | 68 | 68 | 66 | 64 |
10 countries where foreign women have the worst conditions for work | ||||||||||
Satisfaction (%) - State | Greece | Italy | Serbia | Argentina | Turkey | Burma | South African Republic | Romania | Kuwait | Egypt |
Career prospects | 23 | 31 | 28 | 43 | 40 | 47 | 40 | 46 | 50 | 43 |
Balance of work and private life | 45 | 50 | 51 | 51 | 44 | 44 | 58 | 49 | 38 | 55 |
Safety | 35 | 45 | 38 | 45 | 48 | 66 | 51 | 67 | 52 | 51 |
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