A growing number of American women are fleeing the United States in search of a better life in Europe.
Nearly half of American expats working abroad in 2021 were womenAccording to an InterNations survey, as remote work became more prevalent and an increasing number of countries began offering visas for digital nomads.
The average age of expats was 43, and many were looking to move to a country that aligned with their values, which range from universal healthcare to fleeing the polarized political landscape of the United States. USA Today Reports.
“They see Europe as offering a political climate that seems less changed, less divided and generally more tolerant,” said Cepee Tabibian, founder She pressed refresh. – an online community of American women over 30 looking to move to Europe.
“This is also a big boost for our intersectionally marginalized members, like our LGBTQ+ members and our Black members, who find more welcoming environments and policies in Europe than in the United States.”
Cepee Tabibian founded She Hit Refresh, an online community of American women over 30 looking to move to Europe.
Among those drawn to the European lifestyle was Dee Segler, who moved to the Netherlands, a country she had never been to before, on Monday.
She told USA Today that she had dreamed of living abroad since she was a teenager and went on a school trip to Europe with her French club.
“I made a promise to myself when I was 18: I was going to live abroad,” Segler said. ‘But life just happened. I went to school, got married and had children.’
However, as the years went by, his situation changed.
She is now divorced, has children who live alone, and was laid off from her tech job a few years ago. He then returned to school, but could only get a job in a junior position and struggled to make ends meet amid rising prices in Seattle.
Segler eventually came across the She Hit Refresh Facebook group, which had more than 10,000 members, and in June attended their online training on European visa options, learning how to obtain a two-year visa for the Netherlands as an independent American. under the Dutch-American Treaty of Friendship.
He finally decided it was time to leave in the summer of 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“You have to understand that I almost died after pregnancy complications, and I have two loved ones who almost died after pregnancy complications, so this is personal for me,” Segler told USA Today.
Shortly after, the Supreme Court also ruled that former President Donald Trump has presidential immunity.
A few days later, he contacted Dutch immigration lawyers.
Among those drawn to the European lifestyle was Dee Segler, who moved to the Netherlands, a country she had never been to before, on Monday.
Cindy Sheahan, who traveled the world as a backpacker before settling in Portugal in 2022 and only moved to Sicily in October, said she sought life in Europe because of the “increasingly polarized and divisive climate in the United States since 2016.”
She began backpacking right when Trump first took office, although her move was also preceded by her divorce.
“Another Trump term is non-negotiable for me,” he said.
Sheahan eventually found She Hit Refresh when looking for a way to permanently move to Europe and ultimately qualify for Italian citizenship through his ancestry.
Other women have been drawn to Europe for its safety, after the Global Peace Index Rankings 2024 The United States is ranked 131st out of the 162nd safest, while countries including Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands earned spots in the top 20.
Age-adjusted gun death rates in the United States are also much higher than in Europe: 19 times higher than in France and 77 times higher than in Germany. according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Cindy Sheahan, who traveled the world as a backpacker before settling in Portugal in 2022 and just moved to Sicily in October, said she sought life in Europe because of the “increasingly polarized and divisive climate in the United States since 2016.”
For Tabibian, like Segler, moving to Europe was something he had dreamed of for a long time.
She felt ready to leave her tech job in 2015 and was eager to move to Spain, where years earlier she taught English while earning her master’s degree.
But returning to teaching English felt like a “step back” from her age, when “it seems like everyone has it all together.”
However, when looking for resources to move to Europe, Tabibian said: ‘I just didn’t find resources made for me.
‘They didn’t understand the challenges I faced moving as a woman who had a life under my belt and responsibility.
“There’s a lot of information for someone doing a gap year at university – a very different point of life,” he said, while wondering if he would lose his career if he moved to Europe and what would happen to his children or whether he had a mortgage.
However, once she was in Madrid, Tabibian met other expat women and learned more about visa options for staying in Spain.
In 2017, she created a Facebook group in response to friends and colleagues asking her about the move, and She Hit Refresh eventually became a blog and held its first retreat in 2019.
Now offering four-day live training master classes over Zoom that detail moving to Europe and helping attendees develop a personalized moving plan.
It also offers a monthly membership to accelerate people’s movements, including resources and the ability to connect women for support.
Tabibian now says She Hit Refresh is an important resource for women looking to move to Europe.
“There’s this pressure to settle down and have a family and have life figured out, and those of us who want something more may feel different or maybe weird making a different decision,” she explained.
‘When I made my move, I felt like a lot of the questions I was getting were double standards, and maybe if I were a man, people wouldn’t ask me the same questions in terms of security or whether I could get married or have kids.’
