International Women's Group

I've just come back from my first meeting of the International Women's Group at QUT, a support system for spouses and partners of international students. I am both inspired and, unexpectedly, saddened.

The meeting itself was very pleasant - a bit of yoga, a nice lunch and a chance to chat with other new arrivals. The director of the program rightly welcomed us by saying that she understood many of us had left careers in our home country while our husbands studied, and that this can be quite an adjustment. The yoga teacher rightly pointed out that things that were subconscious before required conscious thought now (like trying to find sugar in a new grocery store or crossing the street with traffic on the opposite side), and that this can be exhausting and stressful.

There were three engineers, two university professors, a doctor and a beautiful woman from Iran who had just completed her master's degree and was desperate to improve her English in order to get a job. She, especially, impressed me - a radiant woman, enthusiastic about the move, and convinced that it would be good to stay permanently in Australia after only being here two weeks. Her husband walked in toward the end of the meeting, and I immediately pictured a traditional Iranian wedding and the two of them surrounded by family, and I wondered if she had realized what she had left behind yet.

Once again, I found myself the least qualified of everyone in the room (with the possible exception of the Australian leader of the group), surrounded by women with engineering degrees and their own PhDs. It brought me right back to my first day at Global Future in Norway, the only big difference being that there I was the least qualified in a group of both women and men. It was quite humbling, especially as I am looking for work at the moment. The only employed woman in the group was a production engineer who was working as a nanny.  Of course, it has to be said that the meeting was from 10 to 1, so any spouses who had found jobs would most likely not have been at the meeting.

We chatted and there was an energy in the room that I have become very used to any time people of different cultures gather. Then, when I left, I was suddenly struck by sadness. In fact, I almost found myself crying in the middle of town. Yes, these women have all willingly moved with their husbands, they are all relatively happy, but they are young and their careers are mostly on pause for three years. It is a shame for their host country that their talents are not being put to use. I thought back to Global Future again, approval of foreign qualifications, and language expectations. I was surprised to find so many of the same issues in Australia as in Norway. There seem to be many places in the world where an average couple can have an engineer raise their children if they are just willing to hire a foreigner. It just seems like a bit of a waste of talent to me. I am still not sure why the sudden sadness really hit me like that.

Well, those are my thoughts for today. I think they sounded more coherent in my head.