trailing spouses
Following their careers
A trailing spouse is the partner who relocates to accommodate the other's career move—following a job transfer, academic appointment, or military assignment.
The term acknowledges the trailing spouse's sacrifice: leaving their own job, friends, and community.
She struggled to find work as a trailing spouse in a small college town.
The phrase appears often in discussions of academic hiring and expatriate life.
- relocationPermanent change of residence
- foreign serviceOverseas government representation
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- careerLifelong occupational pursuit
- identityWho someone is
resentment · loneliness · adaptation · visa · work permit · dependent · uprooted · diplomat · corporate · homesick · isolation · support · networking · international school · reinvention · starting over · compromise · foreign
trailing spousesprimary earner
Household's main income source
assignee · expat · breadwinner
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