It all starts with statistics. One in every five senior managers in corporate America is a woman. This means the leaders and managers that make decisions that impact billions of consumers tend to think and approach solutions similarly. What is worse is that often the problems men are solving address women issues, and they do not necessarily understand all the implications of their decisions.

First, lets understand where the numbers come from. In a time of fake news and easy-to-manipulate data, it is important to know how the numbers we are reading have been calculated.

Take the gender wage gap for example. The American Association of University Women published their Spring 2017 edition Gender Pay Gap study. Using the 2015 median annual earnings of full-time workers year-round in the United States, the study calculates that the 2015 pay gap was 20%. However, it is important to note that this number includes all levels of education, races, employers, positions and locations. Numbers will shift when you isolate some factors. For example, the pay gap between white men and white women is 24%; between white men and Asian women it is 10%; and between white men and African American women it is 38%.

Considering the previous statistics, talking about gender pay gap can be very misleading. Thus, it is important to compare apples to apples. The Korn Ferry Hay Group studied the difference in salaries for men and women at equal job functions. They conducted this study with data they have collected from over 8 million jobholders, in more than 33 countries. To the point: pay attention to how the gender wage gap numbers decrease as factors are alienated.

• Average: 18%
• Same job level: 7%
• Same job level and company: 2 to 3%
• Same job level, company, and function: < 2%

Half-time summary: The problem individuals and companies should be focusing on, as a way to commit to better gender representation in the company, is through promoting more women to get to the top. This would close the wage gap and promote more diversity.

Here’s what I propose you can do as an individual: become an EXPAT.

Here’s what I propose multinational companies can do: increase the number of women expatriates.

In a globalized world, often managers and employees in higher positions are moved abroad to test their leadership abilities or to acquire specific knowledge. However, numbers prove that women are less likely than men to be sent on missions abroad. Employees believe that females face greater obstacles to accepting international assignments and that this imbalance impacts negatively the efforts of creating a gender equal senior management team in their companies.

Women need to be more confident in their abilities and understand their own success to get promoted. Sheryl Sandberg shared that men attribute their success to themselves and women attribute it to other people. Additionally, that 57% of men negotiated their first salary and only 7% of women did. One of the reasons the Harvard Business Review finds for the lack of negotiation is that women are raised to look out for the needs of others. This is a great quality and helps bring diversity and innovation to companies. Moreover, I believe that a woman’s ability to determine her success is not inversely proportional to her empathy and compassion.

Here is the successful story of Debi Hemmeter, co-founder of Lean In. She was working at a Fortune 50 company and got a promotion. However, she learned that her new salary was lower than that of her future co-workers. Encouraged by a senior executive of the company she worked at, she met with her new boss to renegotiate her compensation. At first the boss refused, pointing out that she was not as qualified as the other employees. Nonetheless, Debi tried again pointing out good arguments that proved she deserved more. Her negotiation impressed her boss. She not only got better compensation, but also went on to run the entire department two and a half years after her negotiation.

The benefits of being an expatriate surpass gaining confidence and include increased adaptability and a larger network. Additionally, this opportunity allows employees a broader understanding of their company, which helps them succeed at management jobs. Women become better leaders and learn to face the battles the gender stereotypes bring upon around the world.

“I learned to always take on things I’d never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist.” — Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM.

When we are kids we learn by imitating. Females need more women to look up to and insipire them. By taking your career abroad, you will benefit girls and young women around the world by defying gender roles with respect and understanding.

Being an expatriate comes with a lot of strategy and some challenges. This is just the beggining.