Understanding professional migrant women’s successful career progression within the Big Four in Luxembourg

Abstract

This paper identifies the resources used by professional migrant women (PMW) from Asian countries, Mauritius and Eastern Europe to succeed in their careers in the context of the Big Four firms in Luxembourg. Our study builds on 39 interviews, 21 of which are with PMW, and the remaining 18 are with leaders working in this field. We draw on the Theory of Practice of Bourdieu to highlight how a population who is a priori discriminated against can rebalance an unfavorable power dynamic through the identification of resources necessary to develop agency in order to succeed in a specific context. Understanding the role of the interplay between local and organizational factors in shaping the power logic that defines career progression provides the opportunity to alter the reproduction of a notoriously elitist field in favor of more diversity.