Women with foreign accents, particularly Russian speakers, are perceived as less employable, according to a new study from The Australian National University (ANU).
The research found men aren't impacted in the same way.
To better understand language discrimination in the Australian context, ANU researchers ran an experiment in which 153 listeners rated speakers' employability.
The study used a survey with audio clips from 30 speakers of different backgrounds, including first-and-second-language speakers of English and both men and women.
Study lead author, Dr Ksenia Gnevsheva, said the listeners were native English speakers, mostly tertiary-educated professionals across a range of ages.
"We had speakers of Australian English from five groups, including native English speakers from Anglo, Cantonese, and Lebanese backgrounds, as well as second-language speakers of English who speak Mandarin or Russian as a first language," she said.
Audio clips were randomly presented to the listeners, who then rated the speakers on a five-point scale for employability. The results showed no impact for men of diverse backgrounds, but a significant impact for women, particularly those with foreign accents.
"We found that, first, while linguistic background had no effect for male speakers, it did for female speakers, with Anglo women rated the most employable and Russian-speaking women the least employable," Dr Gnevsheva said.
"To control for individuality, multiple speakers were chosen for each background, and clips were randomly presented to different listeners."
The study found that the listener's age had little impact, contrary to a UK study that found that older people showed accent bias and that judgements for native English speakers were similar, regardless of background.
However, according to the researchers, the findings clearly show the "double disadvantage" faced by women with foreign accents.
"This is particularly important because there are many perception studies that include only male speakers, which may overlook different judgements for men and women," study co-author, Professor Catherine Travis, said.
"This male bias in research is really problematic for something as sensitive as perceptions about accent, which can be linked to discrimination."
"There is a lack of legislation against discrimination based on accent in Australia and other countries, so there's a risk that it can be used as a proxy for other forms of discrimination," Dr Gnevsheva added.
"Our study suggests the need for anti-discriminatory training for HR professionals to mitigate biases but also shows the importance of training decision-makers in all business areas, not just HR, to promote a culture of diversity and acceptance.
"There are complexities with multiple variables at play, such as the intersection of gender roles and cultural expectations. This highlights the importance of continued research to understand and address these biases."
The research is published in Australian Journal of Linguistics .
