Travelling for work: Navigating the bumps that women may face in the road

Helen Donald, our new Women Traveller Advisor, reflects on how she made travel safer and more comfortable for herself during her long career in which she travelled extensively around the globe.

I have spent a great deal of my professional life travelling for work.  It has been both rewarding and challenging.

Over the years I have developed three basic rules to ease my passage, particularly to new and unfamiliar cultures.

You don’t know what you don’t know

And your company probably doesn’t either.  Our security and travel departments would issue alerts when we booked travel to high-risk areas (“Boko Haram is active in Nigeria; avoid the northern states”).  This was useful to a point but didn’t tell me what I really wanted to know: how to navigate my way across an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous city alone late at night when my driver didn’t show up; how to fend off the myriad taxi drivers, porters and hangers-on who homed in on me the minute I walked out of Lagos customs.

While you obviously can’t anticipate every eventuality, consider your destination and the issues that concern you the most, e.g., safety; what to do if your technology fails.  Typically, when I have got into hot water it has been because I didn’t know that what I was doing was actually putting me at risk.  In Nairobi, I decided to walk across the road from my hotel to the office – a stroll of just 200 meters and 5 minutes – to be told that I had just risked life and limb and must always take a taxi.

To pre-empt the risks that worry me most, I make it a habit to:

• Over-communicate. Make sure someone knows where you are at all times (“I’ve just got into the taxi from the hotel to the venue. I should be there in 15 minutes”) and update them along the way if there are delays or problems.  Enter local emergency contacts in your phone and ensure that you have a data plan that covers you as soon as you arrive.
• Understand local logistics. How do I get into the city?  What transport options are available – and do they work?  Is there a shuttle bus to the hotel?  Is it safe to walk at night in the city – or to walk in the city at all?

Ask the people on the ground

I once turned up to run a training course for managers at a construction site wearing a skirt and heels.  Because the course was for managers, I had assumed that I would be working in an office.  I was refused entry to the site for (immediately obvious) safety reasons; loose clothes can get caught in machinery and flat shoes are required to prevent tripping on uneven ground/equipment.  Luckily, I had my travel bag with me and was able to change.  It hadn’t occurred to my male colleagues to tell me that there was a dress code because their clothes automatically complied.  And it hadn’t occurred to me to ask.

Like it or not, dress code is a biggie – and the rules are constantly changing.  In 2019, Saudi Arabia relaxed its dress code for foreign women, no longer requiring them to wear a hijab or abaya.  ‘Modest’ dress is still required – but what does modest mean in this context?  What is appropriate also varies by industry and audience.  What I would wear to present to the ExCo of a bank is very different to what I would wear to run a frontline focus group at a mine.

Similarly, finding out about local customs can help alleviate feelings of discomfort and prepare you for situations that you might find awkward, downright annoying or insulting – particularly as a woman.  If, for example, you understand that the Japanese deem eye contact to be rude and confrontational, then you will more readily forgive every businessman you meet for talking to your feet.

I make it a rule to call a (preferably female) colleague working in situ and ask three questions:

• Is there a dress code?
• Are there any customs I should know about, notably re attitudes to women?
• Do you have any tips for me while travelling in X?

Consider if I’m comfortable doing this

Today, 64 countries in the world still criminalise homosexuality.  Companies do not, generally, expect their LGBTQ+ staff to travel to these countries for work.  But many countries also have attitudes and rules that penalise women and, in my experience, companies are a bit woollier on their policies here.

They often fail to consider issues such as heightened risks of harassment that may make it difficult to travel freely, traditional gender roles or restrictions that may make it difficult for women to work in certain countries, or stereotypes about women’s status and abilities that mean their competence and leadership capabilities come under fire.  Legal rights for women may also be more limited.

My experiences working across Africa and the Middle East have taught me the value of:

• Laying out my concerns with HR up front about a specific assignment, e.g., a remote location where I may feel unsafe, a male-dominated workplace/culture where I may feel uneasy. And saying no when I’m not comfortable.
• Reporting back to your company and sharing experiences with your female colleagues (if your company doesn’t have a forum for this then start one!).
• Coordinating travel plans with colleagues where possible to avoid travelling alone.

Company support

Check what resources your company has available to help you in your travels, speak to your travel team and security department to see what support they can give. Also, find out if you have an assistance provider who you can call or use their App for further information and support. Are there training or education resources available to you? Does your company have special interest groups that may provide networking or support opportunities for women travellers?

Click here to understand how you can better prepare your employees for safe travel and ensure you are fulfilling your duty of care requirements. If you would like to contact beTravelwise and share your experience please email us at hello@betravelwise.com