Women with foreign accents, particularly Russian speakers, are perceived as less employable in Australia, according to a new study.
The Australian National University (ANU) research found men weren’t impacted in the same way.
Study lead author Ksenia Gnevsheva said audio clips from 30 speakers of different backgrounds, including first-and-second-language speakers of English and both men and women, were randomly presented to the listeners, who then rated the speakers on a five-point scale for employability.
Dr Gnevsheva said the results showed no impact for men of diverse backgrounds, but a significant impact for women, particularly those with foreign accents.
She 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.
“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 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.
She said the findings clearly show the “double disadvantage” faced by women with foreign accents.
Read the full study: Assessing language-based discrimination in Australia: The effect of speaker accent in employability judgements.
