Could Maria's accent be hindering her progress at work?

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Maria (not her real name) started working in the finance sector when she arrived in Australia about a decade ago.

She completed a bachelor’s degree in her home country, Russia, along with a master’s degree in Australia. Now in a contract role, she is undertaking further study.

“I found that I was quite comfortable working in back-of-office [role] but I wanted to move further to a more client-facing role,” she told SBS News.

“I found that it’s quite challenging being a migrant.”

Some of those challenges include language barriers and use of jargon. She said she sometimes faces questions, such as how long she has been working in her field.

“Mostly, I found that people are really curious about different cultures. It’s all positive points. But in order to get there, it’s a really big challenge to find a job.”

‘We have to work harder’

Maria wonders whether her accent is among the factors, including confidence and experience, that might be impacting her career progression.

“It’s hard to say because … it’s not normal here to receive such feedback … It’s a big picture,” she said.

“It’s a double effort that has to be taken in order to make the same moves. We have to work harder.”

A new study suggests women with foreign accents are seen as less employable than men, and non foreign-accented speakers more broadly.

The researchers from the Australian National University on Tuesday pointed to a “double disadvantage” that some women face.

“We found that accent played a role, but not just accent by itself,” Ksenia Gnevsheva, lead author and senior lecturer in linguistics, told SBS News.

“For the men speakers in our study, the accent didn’t matter.”

A ‘perception experiment’

Australia is a linguistically diverse country, with almost one quarter of the population speaking a language other than English at home, according to the 2021 Census.

Language-based discrimination is often less reported on than discrimination based on race or religion, but has been “robustly” demonstrated in some research, the study says. Researchers aimed to explore this in an Australian context, focusing on employment.

They conducted a “perception experiment” using audio clips of 30 speakers from five groups: native English speakers from Anglo, Cantonese and Lebanese backgrounds, along with second-language English speakers whose first language is Mandarin or Russian.

Clips were randomly presented to a group of 153 listeners, who then rated the speakers on a five-point scale of employability. Questions included how likely the candidate [or speaker] would be a good fit for an office job, and how likely the listener would recommend hiring them.

The survey suggested linguistic background affected female speakers, but had no effect for male speakers.

“The listeners found them [men] as equally employable, irrespective of their background. For women, it did [matter],” Gnevsheva said.

Based on the scope of the survey, Anglo women were rated as the most employable, and second-language English-speaking women, such as Russian speakers, the least.

The survey did not find one background was perceived to be more or less employable than any other.

However, both Mandarin and Russian speakers were rated comparatively higher by women than men.

The barriers to employment faced by skilled migrants image

A ‘double disadvantage’

Researchers said the survey points to the “double disadvantage” women with foreign accents face.

“We find a gender-based disadvantage of men versus women, and there’s also a general disadvantage of foreign-accented versus non foreign-accented speakers,” Gnevsheva said.

“When you put these together —when you look at foreign-accented women — this is a double disadvantage highlighting their minority status, and drawing these negative ratings.”

‘Racism and discrimination is still very present’

Dr Astrid Perry is the Head of Women, Equity and DFV (Domestic and Family Violence) with Settlement Services International, which provides services such as settlement support for refugees and employment programs.

Perry said it’s “sad but unsurprising” to see women whose first language is not English being seen as less employable.

“We see this first-hand in the human services sector. Intelligent, hard-working women — women who were nurses, engineers, teachers in their home countries — arrive here and must start over,” she said.

“They often end up in low-paid, insecure jobs that lead to an ever widening gap between migrant women and their Australian-born peers.”

Perry said SSI’s own research shows refugee and migrant women are lagging behind other women in the Australian labour market, despite their skill and qualification levels, and motivation to work.

“Having an accent can result in a stigma that means women are forced to constantly prove themselves in a system that favours local experience over global expertise.”

‘Very real potential’ for language-based discrimination

The ANU researchers said the survey supports the “very real potential” for language-based discrimination in Australia.

It is unlawful to discriminate based on age, disability, race, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation in areas including education and employment.

However, laws in most Western countries — including Australia — do not extend to discrimination based on accent, Gnevsheva said, adding this can also become a “proxy” to other forms of discrimination.

“This is something that could be changed,” she said.

Researchers would also like to see relevant training for HR professionals and other decision-makers in all business areas.

“Discrimination is very important in hiring decisions, and HR professionals — and really anybody in the workforce — should undergo anti-bias training so that people coming from different backgrounds can work together more efficiently.”

This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Russian.