| Sumario: | Purpose This study clarifies the concerns and challenges regarding life events, such as marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, among women engaged in international professional cooperation contexts. It provides insights into support types that women require to work overseas in international cooperation contexts, as well as successfully balance their careers with life events. Methods Using a qualitative descriptive design, online semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Japanese women. Relevant passages were extracted from the transcripts, cleaned, and coded. The relationships between the codes and categories were examined. Results Unmarried participants faced various concerns before their overseas posting, which were categorized into three areas: concerns regarding life events (marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth); concerns regarding the impact of life events on one's own career; no concerns. The concerns that married participants faced before their overseas posting were categorized into four areas: concerns about balancing one's own career with pregnancy and childbirth; concerns regarding the spouse accompanying her and one's own career; concerns regarding children accompanying her; concerns about reconciling one's own career with life events. The challenges to realizing career and life events were categorized into seven areas: enhancement of company systems, organizational level, national level, and the development of a usable environment; consideration of the host country, assignment duration, and organizational structure; and development of salaries and benefits that allow for accompanying the family. Conclusion This study examined the concerns and challenges regarding life events of women engaged in international professional cooperation. By providing salaries and benefits that allow family members to accompany them and improving company and national systems, women may be more well-equipped to strike a balance between their careers and life events.
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