Casaca, Sara FalcãoNunes, Ana Rita2017-12-072017-12-072016Casaca, Sara Falcão e Ana Rita Nunes (1994). "Women in international careers : at the crossroads of barriers, challenges and opportunities". Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – SOCIUS/CSG Working papers nº 01/2016http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/14419This article seeks to expand the knowledge available on the motivations, constraints, opportunities and experiences of women occupying international managerial positions, either as expatriates or in autonomous professional projects. A qualitative methodology was adopted. A total of 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with women in international careers. Family-related factors are the most common barriers to women taking advantage of opportunities and experiences abroad. Inspired by an earlier article (Mathur-Helm, 2002), women’s international managerial experiences are represented here as standing at a crossroads, at the point of intersection of different, challenges and opportunities. The decision to move abroad and the mobility process are experienced as a complex and ambivalent path: a crossroads where both positive and negative paths intersect with each other and a labyrinth where pleasures derived from work, self-fulfilment, work-family conflicts and personal pain are closely intertwined in their experiences.engWomenExpatriatesInternational CareersBarriersChallengesOpportunitiesworking paper