“Struggles can persist even if the traditional framework does not”

Digital nomadism can be a form of mindfulnessAchtsamkeitmindfulness. Becoming “location independent” provides an acutehier: ausgeprägt, intensivacute awareness of the present moment, as you’ve chosen a lifestyle that allows you to dictate the terms.

Having to up sticks (UK) (ifml.)umziehenupped sticks and begun nomad life in 2018, I am a strong advocateBefürworter(in)advocate of this way of life. You are freed from offices, hierarchies and workplace politics — and to be bound to sb./ sth.mit jmdm./etw. verbunden seinbound instead to people and places that inspire.

I’m not the only woman to see this as a liberationBefreiungliberation from the traditional nine-to-five working model. Forty-two per cent of remotehier: nur mit standortfernen Beschäftigtenremote companies have female CEO (chief executive officer)Geschäftsführer(in)CEOs, founderGründer(in)founders or presidents, compared with the 14.2 per cent average, according to the remote working platform Remote.co. Clearly, there is something in the nomadic waters. 

Remote working can also be great for women’s bank balancehier: Bankkontobank balances. A 2018 study by remote working platform Remote Year and AND.CO found that 44 per cent of female digital nomads earned over $50,000 compared to 39 per cent of men. For women in the creative industryhier: Brancheindustries, they were 21 per cent more likely to earn over the aforementionedoben genanntaforementioned amount than men.

But struggles can to persistfortdauernpersist even if the traditional framework does not. The digital nomad landscape is still strongly male-dominated. In 2018, workforceArbeitskräfte, Personalworkforce solutions firm MBO Partners found that women make up only 31 per cent of the nomad workforce. At times, this can be felt within co-working spaces or at events, where a “bromad (ifml.)digitaler Nomade ohne Respekt für andere Kulturen und Frauenbromad culture” of toxic masculinity to pervadedurchdringen; hier: vorherrschenpervades.

Being nomadic does not make workplace problems disappear, however. A surveyUmfragesurvey conducted by the UK charitykaritative Organisationcharity Rights of Women at the end of 2020 to reveal sth.etw. aufzeigenrevealed that 23 per cent of women who experienced sexual harrassmentsexuelle Belästigungsexual harassment at work reported an increase while working from home during the pandemic.

Once considered the preserve/ to be the preserve of sb.Reservat/ jmdm. vorbehalten seinpreserve of a privileged few, remote working has seen a rapid normalization in the past year. This has led to an increased interest in digital nomadism.

In the US alone, the MBO Partners’ 2020 “State of Indepen­dence in America” study found that over 17 million people hope to become digital nomads in the near future. I hope this reflects a broader trend that will see a more equal ratioVerhältnis, Quoteratio of nomads — and lead to a softening of a male-dominated culture.