Tracey's Story
 

After Tracey and her soon-to-be-husband left university in the UK they decided to go travelling together.  Now, nearly 15 years later they are still living the expat life.  Tracey began her career in Quality Assurance in Hong Kong, following her father’s footsteps into the male-dominated construction industry.

When her husband’s company transferred them to Paris, she found herself unable to work as she lacked sufficient skills in the French language.  But the timing was right for them to start a family and both her son and daughter were born while they lived there.

After 5 years in France, another move was in the offing and she and her husband chose Dubai, which they had already visited several times.  “It was the most financially viable place to come and there was also the prospect of me working” she remembers.  Although she had enjoyed her life at home with the children she knew she wasn’t using the skills and knowledge she’d worked so hard to acquire and when her husband talked about his day at home in the evenings “I felt so left out,” she says.

They settled at first in Dubai’s Green Community.   She could walk her children to school and life should have been idyllic, but she says “I was very, very bored.”  However returning to work after a 6 year break is a big step.  “I had lost my confidence; it took me over year to actually go back into work,” she says.  A referral from an old friend secured her an interview and before she knew it she had a job working part-time for an international construction company.

“When I started work I didn’t have a maid.  I had 2 kids in school and was trying to do 3 full days at work and it was just an absolute nightmare” she remembers.  At first she relied on her friends and their maids to help her with the school run and childcare, but soon realized she couldn’t continue without full-time help so she hired a relative of her friend’s maid.   Although the young woman was well educated and spoke good English, she had no experience and didn’t know how to use many household appliances.  Tracey found that training her was difficult but it paid off in the end. 

Around this time they moved to Umm Suqeim to be near to her daughter’s school and Tracey also switched from working 3 full days to doing the same hours over 5 days.  Having a flexible employer really helped, she believes, as there are many mothers who would like to return to work if only more part-time work was available.  “Employers are missing out on some great women out there,” she says.  She still tried to spend as much time as possible with the children, taking extended leave during the summer and inviting family over at other school holidays. 

Although her life as a working mother was busy and sometimes stressful she says “For the first time in 6 years I felt that I was learning again and that I had become independent.  I felt great, completely liberated.”   So getting laid off at the end of last year was quite a blow and it’s taken her a while to get over it.  Eventually she’s keen to get back into the working world.  “Dubai has been good for me in terms of my career,” she says, but for now though “I’m going to concentrate on the kids for a little while.”