Negotiating independent mobility: Single female expats in Bangalore

Every major global human resources study over the past 5 years has noted a common trend: a dramatic increase in the number of women in the expatriate workforce, and increasingly these expats are single. Using ethnographic observations and interviews with female expats who moved alone to work in Bang...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of cultural studies 2016-10, Vol.19 (5), p.450-464
Main Author: Polson, Erika
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Females
Human resources
Mobility
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Summary:Every major global human resources study over the past 5 years has noted a common trend: a dramatic increase in the number of women in the expatriate workforce, and increasingly these expats are single. Using ethnographic observations and interviews with female expats who moved alone to work in Bangalore – the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ – I discuss frictions faced as they negotiate a context where how to get around safely and comfortably in public is the central feature of their daily lives. Using Massey’s concept of ‘power geometry’, the article considers contrasts between the ease of international movement and the obstacles to daily mobility on a local scale, and illustrates how location-based technologies and other strategies are employed to (re)assert control over mobility and space.
ISSN:1367-5494
1460-3551
DOI:10.1177/1367549416631548