Assessing the state of gender equality for skilled migrant women: intersectionality challenges Open Access

Globally, gender equality in the workplace remains elusive, despite significant advances over time (Deloitte, 2024; World Economic Forum, 2023). The key focus of gender equality policies is to ensure both equal opportunities and equal outcomes in the workplace irrespective of gender (Andrade, 2022; Coron, 2020). Outcomes commonly measured include the level of equality with respect to remuneration (e.g. Abraham, 2017; Smith and Whitehouse, 2020), representation at senior organisational levels (e.g. Bonet et al., 2020; Lyness and Grotto, 2018) and employment across traditionally female- or male-dominated industries (e.g. Bishu and Headley, 2020; Moskos, 2020). While these measures provide a useful “snapshot” of change over time, it can be more difficult to understand the opportunities and access that lead to gender difference in these outcomes. Yet it is these less-tangible, situationally-variable – and often unseen – processes that require understanding and intervention if equality is to be realised. In addition, a major criticism of organisational practices related to improving gender equality is their failure to appreciate the range of attributes and backgrounds that intersect with gender, such as ethnicity or class (Holvino, 2010), which interact “to give rise to distinct experiences and manifestations […] [that] are not experienced uniformly within the workplace” (Sang and Calvard, 2019, p. 1509).

Our study brings an intersectionality lens (Collins, 2019; Crenshaw, 1991; McCall, 2005) to consideration of workplace gender equality via a focus on skilled migrant women’s careers. International skilled migration has been identified as a key driver of economic productivity in many developed countries (Smith and Thoenissen, 2019) and, despite decreased movement during the global COVID-19 pandemic (OECD, 2021), international migration continues to drive increased cultural diversity in the labour markets of host countries. We focus specifically on skilled migrants employed in managerial roles and examine how the multiple intersections with gender, cultural background and career aspirations shape their outcomes within the Australian labour market. A mixed method design guides the study, enabling a focus both within and between these social categories (Hancock, 2013).

Our study findings highlight how skilled migrant women’s careers are likely to differ from others due to the complexities and challenges they face. Developing insight into women’s different career experiences holds relevance for talent realisation, motivation and retention for organisations. Development of diversity initiatives that are more than a unilateral, “one-size-fits-all” approach shaped around the experiences of a majority “in-group” of women (Halvorsen et al., 2015; Pio and Essers, 2014) can best support the organisation’s valuable human resources.

Underpinning this study is the feminist intersectionality approach initially conceptualised to explore the experiences of women of colour (e.g. Crenshaw, 1991). Intersectionality theory acknowledges gender inequalities at the cusp of other subjugation elements such as ethnicity, colour, religion and age (Holvino, 2010; Mahler et al., 2015; Rodriguez et al., 2016; Syed, 2022). Scholars of intersectional theory also recognise that these social categories (also represented as identities; e.g. Mooney, 2016) are socially constructed subjectivities that can change over time and are often contested (Rodriguez et al., 2016). Importantly, the defining core of intersectionality theory is recognition that human experience is shaped not by particular attributes or factors acting in isolation from each other to bring about an additive effect, but in their simultaneity (Fitzsimmons et al., 2020; Holvino, 2010) and interaction (Cho et al., 2013) giving rise to distinctly different meanings and experiences that cannot be explained by mere reference to the individual parts (Warner, 2008). Russell (2007, cited in Carastathis, 2016, p. 55) expressed this concept eloquently, noting that “a real-life person is not, for example, a woman on Monday, a member of the working class on Tuesday, and a woman of African descent on Wednesday”.

While the roots of intersectionality theory arose from concern for the privileges and oppressions found at the nexus of gender, race and class (Carasthatis, 2014; Collins, 2019), organisational researchers have more recently considered further intersectionalities such as disability (e.g. Bend and Fielden, 2021; Brown and Moloney, 2019), parenthood (e.g. Cross et al., 2024; Peterson Gloor et al., 2022), religion (e.g. Schnabel, 2016; Wasserman and Frenkel, 2020) and sexual orientation (e.g. Essers et al., 2023; Luiz and Terziev, 2024). Related to the context of the current study, an intersectionality lens has been applied to understand the layered difficulties faced by migrant women from Africa (e.g. Amoako et al., 2024; Bolzani et al., 2021; Faaliyat et al., 2021), Eastern and Southern Asia (e.g. Hwang and Beauregard, 2022; Leung et al., 2019; Mahbub, 2021), and South America (e.g. Flippen, 2014) in various regions of the world. Research with skilled or tertiary qualified migrants has repeatedly found migrants from these regions experience host country stereotyping and discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and migrant status masked by organisational statements regarding lack of local experience (e.g. Amoako et al., 2024; Faaliyat et al., 2021; Yu, 2019). Within these contexts, intersectionality due to occupation has also been highlighted, particularly in relation to women employed in male-dominated workplaces (e.g. Grigoleit-Richter, 2017; Jain, 2021; Rodriguez and Scurry, 2019). Less research focus has been given to the career development of skilled migrants in their host countries (Crowley-Henry et al., 2018; Hajro et al., 2019), which involves the intersection of further social categories.

Scholars repeatedly reference the complexity of an intersectionality approach (e.g. Acker, 2006; Holvino, 2010; McCall, 2005; Mooney, 2016) due to its emphasis on multiple dimensions characterised by open and fluid inter-relationships (Hancock, 2007). Such complexity is also heightened by the interactive effect of power structures at the junction of social categories (Hancock, 2013; Thatcher et al., 2023). Researchers seeking to expose “the ‘silences’ of individuals who deviate from the more obvious and dominant norms” (Mooney, 2016, p. 710) must make difficult decisions on which categories – and how many – to examine. As McCall (2005, p. 1772) noted: “In a nutshell, research practice mirrors the complexity of social life.” Figure 1 provides a simplified depiction of the focal social categories in the current study (noting that the presentation is not intended to indicate either a similar or differential weighting for these categories). Central to our research is the social category of gender, while our study is bounded by the workplace context. We then consider three further categorisations central to our research focus: skilled migration, cultural background and career aspirations. Below, we provide an overview of recent organisational literature relating to these three categorisations, incorporating the role of gender throughout. We provide further discussion on the dimensions and measures relating to all study categorisations in the method section of the paper.

Global migration is driven by a range of “push” and “pull” factors at both individual and national levels (van den Broek et al., 2016; Van Hear et al., 2018), involving varying degrees of individual choice (Bozionelos et al., 2017; Carling and Collins, 2018). Research has increasingly sought to distinguish the workplace experiences of migrants who relocate via different pathways, including refugees (e.g. Baran et al., 2018; Eggenhofer-Rehart et al., 2018), family reunification migrants (e.g. Hwang and Parreñas, 2010), skilled migrants (e.g. Dietz et al., 2015; Gauthier, 2016) and those more recently labelled as “self-initiated expatriates” (e.g. Fu et al., 2017), as well as the influence of the similarities and differences between labour markets in their home and host countries (e.g. Hajro et al., 2019). The sub-category of “skilled” migration is central to economic productivity in many developed countries, where factors such as an ageing population and declining population growth have led to labour market gaps (de Haas et al., 2019; Harvey et al., 2017). While skilled migration can be permanent or temporary, the focus of the current study is on permanent skilled migrants who are aiming to remain in their host country, that is, the host country will be the context for their ongoing employment.

Australia’s permanent migration program currently operates three main streams under which three million permanent migrants (including primary applicants and their family members) arrived in Australia over the period 2000–2021: Skill stream (59%); Family stream (32%); and Humanitarian stream (9%) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023). The Skill stream of Australia’s migration program operates on a points-based system, where individuals make an application and accrue points based on specific characteristics such as age, skills, qualifications, English language proficiency, and recent local or international experience (Department of Home Affairs, 2024). As such, each of these characteristics has a “value” placed on it in the approval process. Points-based systems are also found in Canada (where the approach was originally developed (Ressia et al., 2017)), New Zealand and the UK, as opposed to a demand-driven system (for example, in the USA) where it is employers who identify appropriate skilled migrants (van de Ven and Voitchovsky, 2015).

Research has found that, despite policymakers viewing skilled migrants as work-ready and more likely to easily integrate than other categories of migrants (Boucher, 2020; Liu-Farrer et al., 2021), permanent skilled migrants experience significant structural barriers to their labour market entry (Rodriguez and Mearns, 2012; Zikic, 2015). These barriers include non-recognition of foreign education and skills (e.g. Tan and Cebulla, 2023; Tibajev and Hellgren, 2019), limited access to social networks and the ability to mobilise them (e.g. Halvorsen et al., 2015); and prejudice/discrimination (e.g. Dietz et al., 2015; Kosny et al., 2017). Career disruptions and downward occupational mobility are commonly experienced after initial arrival in the host country (Ressia et al., 2017; Risberg and Romani, 2022). Scholars have also argued that both policy and research related to migration are commonly gender-blind (e.g. Bircan and Yilmaz, 2023; Elo et al., 2020). However, there remains limited attention to the “inner diversity” of labelled categories of “skilled migrants” or “migrant women” (Maturi and Munro, 2023, p. 144). Such diversity can cover age, education, family composition, past work experiences and future aspirations, as well as the influence of cultural background, which we consider next.

The increasing prevalence of cultural diversity within and between organisations is matched by a growing body of literature (see, for example, Maddux et al., 2021; Roberson, 2019; Triana et al., 2021). Studies in the workplace at the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity/cultural background (e.g. Berdahl and Moore, 2006; Di Stasio and Larsen, 2020; Hwang and Beauregard, 2022; Yu, 2020) and at the intersection of migration and culture (e.g. He and Gerber, 2020; Hof, 2021; Lee et al., 2020) have identified experiences of both overt and covert racial discrimination. Such prejudices have also been found in studies of women from ethnic minorities in leadership roles (e.g. Kele et al., 2022; Welch et al., 2021). Negative interactions with other employees are often prompted by physical characteristics of the individual (such as skin colour or language accent), highlighting the pervasive nature of racial and gender stereotyping. We use (and operationalise) the category of “cultural background” in the current study, recognising that the impact of national culture on an individual’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviours is complex and multi-faceted (Albada et al., 2021). It has been argued that an individual’s values develop through a combination of inherent factors and socialisation via families, peers and broader societal culture (e.g. Brenton, 2017; Sagiv et al., 2017), leading to the development of personal “beliefs and ideals which form the basis for choices and preferences” (Gordan, 2011, p. 675). Many cultural models seek to represent this complexity via the interplay of a range of cultural dimensions or values (e.g. Hofstede, 1980; House et al., 2004; Schwartz, 1999).

Recent organisational research has begun to bring an intersectionality lens to the categories of gender, skilled migration and cultural background in the context of leadership roles, highlighting the role of structural power dynamics particularly for women whose cultural background positions them as an ethnic minority in their host country. For example, Arifeen and Syed’s (2020) research in the UK highlighted the onus put on minority women to “fit in” to the norms of the organisation. Research in the USA by Haseki and colleagues found that the intersection of multiple categories created a number of tensions for migrant women, including “managing the type and amount of information” about the identity they disclose to different stakeholders (Haseki et al., 2021, p. 295). These studies highlight the social complexities faced by migrant women due to their gender, employment and migration status, and cultural background. These concerns, and their intracategorical nature, led to the first research question of our study:

Schwartz’s (1992) theory of basic human values is a sociological framework widely referenced in cross-cultural research. The theory has continued to be refined over the past 30 years (see, for example, Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022; Schwartz et al., 2012), encapsulating four higher-order values, ten basic values and 19 refined values. The framework is generally presented visually as a circle to demonstrate a continuum, with similar values closer together while diametrically opposite points on the circle represent conflicting values (Schwartz, 2012; Schwartz and Boehnke, 2004).

Given the workplace context, we chose to focus in Phase 2 on one pair of opposite higher-order values, those of self-enhancement and self-transcendence. For example, research has found these values play a role in attitudes towards career and behaviour of managers within organisations (Arieli and Tenne-Gazit, 2022). The basic values within “the self-enhancement versus self-transcendence dimension” (Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022, p. 522) depict the tension between, respectively, concern for one’s own interests and relative success (defined as achievement and power values) and concern for the welfare and interests of others (defined as benevolence and universalism values). Achievement represents concern for personal success, including recognition by others, while power relates to having control of people and resources, including social status and prestige (Arieli and Tenne-Gazit, 2022; Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022). In contrast, benevolence reflects prioritising the welfare of close others, while universalism expresses a sense of understanding and concern for the welfare of all people (Arieli and Tenne-Gazit, 2022; Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022).

Repeated research across national cultures has found, on average, women tend to hold stronger to the value of self-transcendence than men, while men are more likely to value self-enhancement more than women (Lyons et al., 2005; Schwartz and Rubel-Lifschitz, 2009). These finding are unsurprising given the socialisation process into gender roles from a young age (Stockard, 2006), albeit to varying degrees across cultures (Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022). We thus hypothesized the following:

Career has been conceptualised as “the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time” (Arthur et al., 1989, p. 8). Thus, a career was described as performing a fundamental function in the continuous construction and maintenance of a healthy self-concept, consistent with individuals’ changing strengths and weaknesses, shifting beliefs and attitudes and future aspirations (Adamson et al., 1998). Careers were conceived as a way for an individual to seek personal meaning and to link their personal self to the outer society, thereby denoting one’s continuous learning towards self-fulfilment (Adamson et al., 1998), although it has been argued that traditional conceptualisations of career were gender-blind (e.g. Ford et al., 2020). A growing body of literature focuses on the career trajectories and experiences of women, including the influence of parenting role (Kossek et al., 2017). Drawing on the roots of intersectionality theory, empirical investigation also continues into the implications of the intersection of gender and culture at middle- and senior-management levels (e.g. Bloch et al., 2021). Adding the additional intersection with skilled migration leads to our second research question:

Bringing an intercategorical focus to gender differences in migrant managers’ careers, we consider both attitudes and behaviours in relation to further career advancement. Attitudes to career advancement are represented by career advancement goals, that is, what an individual wants to achieve irrespective of whether and when they choose to act on those wishes (Litzky and Greenhaus, 2007; Tharenou and Terry, 1998). For current managers, such career advancement involves increased leadership responsibility and influence (Fritz and van Knippenberg, 2017; Gray and O’Brien, 2007; Pace, 2019). Given we are focusing on individuals who are already in managerial positions, it is anticipated they are likely to hold further advancement goals irrespective of their gender, as per our third hypothesis:

A range of proactive career behaviours have been identified as relevant to career advancement (e.g. Andresen et al., 2020; Parker and Collins, 2010; Seibert et al., 2001). Importantly, the diversity of behaviours that can be enacted has been recognised, whether individually focused, such as skill development and further education (e.g. Gray and O’Brien, 2007; Strauss et al., 2012), focused within a current employing organisation, such as seeking out feedback and advice (e.g. Strauss et al., 2012; Tharenou and Terry, 1998), or focused external to the organisation, such as wider networking or mentoring (e.g. Litzky and Greenhaus, 2007; Sosik and Godshalk, 2004). Those looking to advance their career typically engage simultaneously in a number of these behaviours (Hirschi et al., 2014). However, the range of activities represents a broad span of time- and energy-costs, which may lead to differential use of these strategies based on individuals’ other goals and commitments. We therefore differentiated between proactive career behaviours that individuals can use within the context of their current role and those behaviours which require extra-role activities either within their current organisation or beyond. The use of these two categories by female and male migrants is set out in the final two hypotheses:

This study used a mixed methods approach, which some authors have identified as the third methodological movement (Johnson et al., 2007; Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2009). The key aim in adopting a research design that used both qualitative and quantitative methods is to enable development of a better understanding of the phenomena of interest (Plano Clark et al., 2008). Within intersectional studies, the use of qualitative methods is commonly aligned with an approach highlighting intracategorical complexity by focusing on the voices of individuals within particular social groupings that are often neglected (McCall, 2005). The aim is to explain how particular intersectional combinations lead to outcomes that either compound or offset experiences within a single social category (Thatcher et al., 2023; Yang, 2024). In contrast, quantitative methods often adopt an approach focused on intercategorical complexity (McCall, 2005) seeking to compare and/or deconstruct relevant social categories at points of intersectionality (Yang, 2024). The current study uses an exploratory sequential design, specifically a core qualitative phase followed by a second phase using quantitative methods, often depicted methodologically as a QUAL → QUANT approach (Morgan, 2014; Plano Clark and Ivankova, 2016). Both intra- and intercategorical approaches to intersectionality include recognition of the contested nature of social categories but, to different degrees, choose to work with existing categories as a point of reference. For the social category of gender, we acknowledge its non-binary nature as well as the conflation of physiological, psychological and social-norm facets of gender (Lindqvist et al., 2021). However, for the purposes of the current study, we did operationalise a binary focus of participants who identified as females or males. We note that our focus on (permanent) skilled migration sits within a social category that more broadly reflects a person’s “origin” in relation to their permanent country of residence, with the initial differentiation being between natives and migrants (Lee et al., 2020). Table 1 provides further details of the specific dimensions of the four social categories of our study relevant to Phases 1 and 2.

Participants: The interviewees were primary skilled migrant applicants (meaning they migrated alone or their skills, language, qualifications and previous work experience had received higher cumulative recognition than their spousal migrants) who arrived in Australia as adults between the ages of 25–65, and who were currently employed in managerial and/or leadership positions. They originated from four countries in the Southern and Eastern regions of Asia (China, India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka) representing non-Anglo/Western cultural backgrounds/ethnicities. The participants were recruited through snowball sampling (Babbie, 2010), the modified chain referral technique (Penrod et al., 2003), ethnic community networks, recommendations and contacts of previous professional network connections, friends and acquaintances. The 11 interviewees were in full-time positions, and their years of migration to Australia ranged from eight years onwards (see Table 2 for further demographic characteristics).

Data collection and analysis: Semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face individual interviews were conducted for 60–120 min. To ensure the actual and detailed accounts were attained, all the interviews were recorded and transcribed manually (Kleiman, 2004). The initial analysis stage involved listening, reading and immersing from the raw data in the manual transcriptions of the interviews (Kleiman, 2004). The second stage sought to derive the “essential characteristics of the expressed meaning” of the interviewees and extracts from the women who shared similar experiences were organised and analysed manually into categories and themes (Lindseth and Norberg, 2004, p. 147).

Sample and procedure: Participants were recruited via a professional company to access migrants living and working in Australia from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The inclusion criteria were people currently employed as managers and who migrated to Australia as an adult (over 18 years of age). Target participants were sent an email containing a Web-link through which they could voluntarily choose to access the online survey. The final sample comprised 325 participants, of which 181 (56%) were male. More than half (58%) were in the age range of 30–50 years. Immigrants from Asia were the most represented in the sample (which aligns with Australian migration figures) at 52%. Half the respondents (51%) had received Australian citizenship following approval for permanent residency, while 13 (4%) held a temporary residence visa. More than half of the respondents had a Bachelors degree or higher tertiary qualification (59%). Table 3 provides further demographic characteristics.

Measures: All variables (apart from cultural values) were measured using a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).

Gender: Gender was reported as a dichotomous variable of 0 and 1 representing, respectively, females and males.

Cultural values: We measured the higher-order values of self-enhancement and self-transcendence (alongside their constituent basic human values) using Schwartz et al.’s (2001) Portrait Values Questionnaire, which used a six-point scale (1 = Not at all like me to 6 = Very much like me). This scale contains four items to measure achievement (Cronbach’s alpha in our study was 0.84) and three items for power (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.72). The combined scale for self-enhancement had eight items in total, with the inclusion of one item for the value of hedonism (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.86). Four items measured benevolence (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.76) and six items represented universalism (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82), with the combined scale for self-transcendence therefore having ten items in total (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.88).

Career advancement goals: We used an adapted 12-item scale (Godshalk and Sosik, 2003) from Tharenou and Terry’s (1998) desired aspirations scale. Sample items included “I would like to be in a position of greater influence in the department/organisation”, and “I have no ambition to advance to a higher level” (reverse-coded). Cronbach’s alpha for the scale in our study was 0.94.

Proactive career behaviours: The development of survey items was guided by areas identified by our Phase 1 participants, alongside reference to a range of extant scales (Hirschi et al., 2014; Parker and Collins, 2010; Strauss et al, 2012). The 4-item scale for PCB-I included “I seek out opportunities to demonstrate my abilities” and “I initiate new projects”. The 4-item scale for PCB-E included “I work long hours to enhance my career prospects’ and ‘I am an active member of a professional body”. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.71 for the PCB-I scale, and 0.66 for the PCB-E scale.

The presentation of our qualitative findings is structured in two ways: first, findings related to each research question are presented in separate sections, and second, each section presents findings aligned with different sites of intersectionality. First-level intersectionalities (represented in Figure 2 by circles) are sites of intersection of gender with one other category, while second-level intersectionalities (identified with solid arrows in Figure 2) are sites of intersection of gender with two other categories. A third level of intersectionality occurs at the intersection of all four categorical dimension in our study:

Before turning to the intersectionalities we considered, we note that our participants recognised aspects in common with other women regardless of other factors, particularly in relation to the expectations of others in the workplace. For example, Nerida suggested: “People like women to be straight down the line, very poised. […] So, when you’re strong, whether it’s white or non-white, people do feel very uncomfortable. […] There are a lot of women in the top leadership in [her organisation], but the ultimate leadership is of men. So, the moment you start challenging that leadership, and you start moving into that level, they’re not comfortable […] I’ve got personal experience of that. Because I transgressed into that, and it wasn’t appreciated at all.” Robin shared that she felt she needed to “take on” masculine qualities in her work role: “To some degree, yes, you do it naturally, unconsciously. [It’s not until] you finally realise and you go, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to […] I’m a woman first, full stop, and I don’t have to try to be a man.’ […] But sometimes I do have to counteract male energy with some masculine energy itself.” Similarly, the experiences of mothers in our study aligned with the extant literature. For example, Juliet shared that, due to being responsibility for her organisation’s international business: “I need to do a bit of travelling, which sometimes I have to [pass] up because I have a young son. Although having said, that my husband is a very supportive man. But I have to think about my son.”

Intersection of gender with skilled migration: Aligned with the literature on skilled migration, almost all respondents reported that, upon migration to Australia, their first job role was in a position below their previous experience. For example, Rosalind’s experiences led to the belief that while skilled migrants hoped of securing good employment opportunities, the reality had been that if they entered the country having held a mid-career professional level, they would be employed in a lower ‘slot’. Salerio reported that she had successfully held senior legal roles in Hong Kong, China and the USA before relocating to Australia, and had expected that her skills and experience would be in demand, a belief that was also supported by her successful primary skilled migrant application. However, based on her own experience and witnessing similar situations for other migrants, she stated that: “No matter what the career, in Australia is a step down initially.” Desdemona had hoped her professional experience from Sri Lanka and a post-graduate degree from a reputable Australian university would have enhanced her options. She shared: “I possibly thought that I probably wouldn’t have to start from scratch, from absolutely the bottom. But in reality, I did. […] [With less options than she expected], I just took the first opportunity that came by, so I didn’t hold back and wait for better opportunities because I needed the money, and I needed to get a job. […] I was a woman and migrant, and basically, I had to sort of start again, and whatever I had done in the past didn’t really matter. And you see it around you all the time.”

Intersection of gender with cultural background: Stories shared by our participants had a number of commonalities with research findings relating to ethnic minorities in the workplace. Rosalind said: “Sometimes I feel that people really don’t give regard to your presence. And I don’t know why, whether it’s the ethnic background [or something else, but it] feels as if they will disregard you. I do feel like that, especially when there are external consultants coming in from different organisations. So when they come, they will talk, and even if you’re wanting to say anything, or you’re saying anything, I feel that they don’t regard you as much. It’s just the perception […] And I think that is why a lot of the Chinese people, they even change their name”. In relation to the perception of others in the workplace, Ursula expressed she felt that women from non-Anglo backgrounds were perceived to not possess “outspoken” qualities (such as in vocalising their opinions and thoughts) compared to men. Ursula felt that she needed to be more vocal and to speak up more to change the social perception that women from minority backgrounds were not leadership material in Australia. However, Capulet expressed that this difference may not merely be a perception. In her case, she stated: “There is that cultural root if you like, [a] foundation that you’re more respectful of what others are saying, and, while you disagree with them, you may not necessarily just confront.” Silvia also highlighted the influence of cultural background on workplace behaviour, stating that: “Some Asian cultures obviously have not been encouraged to be outspoken because that has been considered rude”, whereas in Australia her experience had been the opposite.

Intersection of gender with skilled migration and cultural background: Further stories became apparent at the intersection of these three categories. Rosalind stated that, in her experience, skilled migrants were treated differently in their employment and career progression depending on their cultural background, with migrants from English-speaking backgrounds in the UK or the USA being held in a much higher esteem in Australia than migrant women from the Asian regions. Portia shared she had a colleague who felt that she needed to review Portia’s written work, based on an assumption that Portia would have inadequate writing skills due to English being her second language. Instead, Portia ended up surprising her colleague by delivering a “perfect piece of writing”, and argued she actually felt she could correct her colleague’s work given the emphasis placed on English grammar in the process of her learning English as a second language:

Intersection of gender with career advancement: At this site of first-level intersectionality, experiences shared by our participants aligned with the existing literature on women and career advancement, particularly in conjunction with parenting. For example, Juliet noted that: “I suppose you wouldn’t have the interruptions in your career [if you did not have] children. They [organisations] are not supposed to discriminate just because you have babies and you’re female, but there is a bit of it, I suppose.” In particular, Juliet felt sidelined and treated differently by her (male) manager after announcing her second pregnancy. At meetings, for instance, when she put her hand up for something to work on before her leave, he would decline her offer by saying, “Well, you are going on maternity leave next year”. She shared: “I mean the fact that my projects had been taken away from me, even before I’m ready to let go of them, I don’t think is very fair, but what can I do?” Most participants who were mothers expressed the challenges in having a family and transitioning back into their careers. Silvia shared that she had spent some years as a single mother after her marriage ended. Her priority became about raising her child, and she said: “I made a choice that I was going to stop my career because my life became my career too. And so I had to come back into my life and say, ‘Well, I want to be at the school gate at three-30.’ So that became my vision for life, I have to be at the school gate at three-30.” The gendered expectations on women’s behaviour in the workplace (as discussed by our participants previously) also had implications in relation to career advancement, but the intersectionality with categories of skilled migration and cultural background meant our participants’ experiences could rarely be explained solely by the interaction of gender with career advancement. Therefore, the sites of second-level intersectionality became important.

Intersection of gender with skilled migration and career advancement: The loss of formal networks and connections from migrants’ home countries for both women and men has been highlighted in the extant literature. Our participants shared similar concerns. As an exemplar, Salerio stated: “People don’t have the connection and the network because they’re all back in another country. […] So many of the relationships in India you take for granted, and those networks, which I think also impact on your career because you don’t have any of those networks. […] That was one of the huge disadvantages I found migrating to another country, more than anything else.” Again, the gendered norms of parenting also played a role. Nerida shared her views on this aspect: “The woman still has to pick up the kids, she’s expected to put the dinner on the table, get the kids fed and put to bed, and all of that kind of stuff.” In particular, a number of our participants lamented on the lack of help with domestic tasks and childcare in Australia compared to their home countries. Salerio shared passionately on this topic, stating that a “lot of her friends” had taken up expatriate roles in Asia so they could have help and have not wanted to come back to Australia until their kids have been grown up. She felt that there was very little help when it came to women and their household chores in Australia. In contrast, she related that all her friends in India who have been in equal positions as her or better had not had to worry at all about the household, instead employing help with their children, food, cleaning and the routine management of household chores.

Intersection of gender, cultural background and career advancement: Building on the differences in workplace behaviour across cultures (as discussed earlier), our participants reported being told (and observing themselves) that people in the Australian workplace have to “speak up” if they wanted their skills and abilities to be recognised, a key priority for career advancement. Portia spoke about making a deliberate effort to change her behaviour to be noticed in her early years in Australia: “I’m not used to putting myself forward […] I mean I am ambitious in my own way, but I’m not one who will push others aside and push myself first.” Participants commented on realising how their behaviour could be misinterpreted. For example, Nerida shared that “Sometimes if you stay quiet, the general consensus is that it means that you’ve got no opinion. Or you don’t care.” Ursula reflected similar concerns: “I’m more on the quiet side, I don’t really like the word introvert, it’s more introspective. So I like to think before I talk, and not just talk anything, but talk sense. But I do see that in Asia this trait is more common, being introspective. There are times when I have to shift gears, try to put on a different personality, just because people’s expectations are different. So I’m still learning about that aspect, but you just have to adapt to wherever you are. It’s not about being your own self wherever you go”. Salerio agreed: “Quietly confident is not necessarily a good attribute, you’ve got to be strongly confident. It’s a choice that I had to make, I said, ‘Do I want to go up the career ladder, do I want to step up and be noticed and be seen, or am I happy just […] doing my nine to five job?’” Nerida suggested that an employee’s hierarchical level mattered: “People really don’t care at the lower levels, it doesn’t matter who it is, black or white or green or blue. It doesn’t matter. But when you start looking at senior roles, CEO, CFOs – it matters. The perception matters about who is it I’m looking at, the face of the organisation. … And I think it comes back to again the whole gender thing, is that most CEOs worldwide are six feet two, blonde hair, blue eyes, either named Michael or Robert or John.” In contrast, Ophelia spoke about the value of having a manager “like her”. She shared: “This is very specific to me, because she is an Indian female, who is also quite petite, not quite as petite as me. But having a woman […] in our particular group as the head, and as one of the influential partners within the partnership, does sends a strong message. In one sense it sends a strong message that if you are similar to her in terms of how you run your life, [you can also progress.] I think it also sends a message about the fact that women who are not these masculine women, or what you think of as conventional strong women, can be successful. I think it always helps to see someone like me.”

Intersection of gender with skilled migration, cultural background and career advancement: Presenting exemplar quotes that demonstrate experiences unique to the site of interaction became more difficult as the number of social categories increased. At the point of intersectionality of all four categories in our study, it became apparent that this complexity was also present for some of our participants. For example, Nerida shared an experience where her company was expanding services to Asia. She had a key role when the same service was established in Australia and, when the role of director for the program became available, she felt she was ready to step up into that role. She described putting her “hat in the ring”, but she was not appointed. The male colleague placed in the role mismanaged it over the ensuing year and ultimately the project management role was given to Nerida, after which she was able to successfully expand it throughout Asia. She shared a scenario that occurred shortly after she was appointed to manage the project, when she found a pair of his shoes in the office with a note stating: “Let’s see how you can fill these shoes.” While Nerida noted that her colleague had a problem “with me”, it is not easy to identify if a similar scenario would have occurred in the context of a person with a different dimension on one of the social categories for which our participants were chosen – or indeed another categorisation that we did not study, such as personality. Ursula explicitly highlighted that it can be hard to know where discrimination is directed when speaking about applying for jobs: “It could be gender, it could be your looks, or because of my looks, people just jump to the conclusion I’m Asian, not necessarily Indian Asian; and then an Asian female, of a certain age.” Ursula’s comments highlight yet another social category of relevance for intersectionality, that of age, which was not part of our key foci.

All hypotheses were separately tested via independent samples t-tests. While we had hypothesized that male migrant managers would hold the higher-order value of self-enhancement more strongly than female migrant managers, no significant difference was found between genders, t(321) = 1.11, p = 0.268. Similarly, for the human value of achievement, no significance difference was found, t(321) = 3.20, p = 0.786. Thus, Hypotheses 1a and 1b were not supported. However, for the human value of power, it was found that female migrant managers scored lower (M = 3.47) than males (M = 3.81); t(321) = 3.20, p < 0.01, providing support for Hypothesis 1c.

In relation to the higher-order value of self-transcendence, female migrant managers scored higher (M = 4.57) than males (M = 4.40), t(321) = 2.10, p < 0.05, supporting Hypothesis 2a. In relation to the two constituent values, benevolence was found to have no significant difference between females and males, t(321) = 1.70, p = 0.090; while female migrant managers scored higher (M = 4.57) for universalism than males (M = 4.39), t(321) = 2.13, p < 0.05. Thus, Hypothesis 2b was not supported, while Hypothesis 2c was supported.

We had hypothesised that there would not be a significant difference between the career advancement goals of female and male migrant managers. The t-test found this to be the case, t(323) = 1.93, p = 0.055. Thus, Hypothesis 3 was supported. Hypothesis 4 was also supported, with no significance difference found between females and males in relation to engagement in proactive career behaviours within the broad context of their workplace role, t(323) = 0.88, p = 0.378. In relation to engagement in proactive career behaviours beyond their workplace role or current organisation, female migrant managers reported lower engagement (M = 2.91) than male migrant managers (M = 3.10), t(323) = 2.47, p < 0.05. Thus, Hypothesis 5 was supported. Table 4 provides a summary of all hypotheses and their results.

Post hoc analysis: Based on the confirmation of Hypothesis 5 in Phase 2, alongside the narratives of childcare in Phase 1, we undertook regression analysis to examine the interaction effect of gender and family on PCB-E. A dichotomous variable of 0 and 1 was created for having children under 18 years of age representing, respectively, no children vs one or more children. 56 females (39%) and 80 males (44%) in our sample had one or more children under 18 years of age. As reported in Table 5, the interaction effect of gender and family on PCB-E was significant (B = 0.38, SE = 0.16, p < 0.05), with female migrant managers with children under 18 years of age reporting less engagement in proactive career behaviours that extend beyond their workplace role or their current organisation. Figure 3 presents a plot of the interaction effect.

The narratives of skilled migrant women from Phase 1 shared much in common with current knowledge at each of the three points of first-level intersectionality. In relation to their experiences as managers, our participants’ stories at the intersection of gender and skilled migration had a number of similarities with narratives from research with male skilled migrants, particularly in relation to the necessity of taking a lower-level job to enter the Australian labour market (Ressia et al., 2017) and the loss of their personal networks (Cooke et al., 2013). At the intersection of gender and cultural background, participants’ narratives highlighted experiences that spoke to physical, visual indicators of cultural background, which reconfirmed Crenshaw’s (1991) arguments and the founding focus of intersectionality at the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity, namely, that it is not sufficient to speak of women’s experiences as a generic experience for all, but that the intersection with race results in a qualitatively different experience for women across a range of ethnicities. Our participants’ narratives shared aspects in common with research findings of the workplace experiences of men from ethnic minority backgrounds, including feelings of being rendered invisible (Wingfield and Chavez, 2020; Yu, 2020). However, the “double jeopardy” of gender and ethnicity (Berdahl and Moore, 2006) was also apparent, particularly when discussing the perception of being “outspoken.”

Managers’ workplace experiences were further highlighted at the second-level intersectionality of gender with skilled migration and cultural background. As discussed earlier, much organisational research located at this site of intersection has highlighted experiences of both overt and covert racial discrimination (e.g. He and Gerber, 2020; Lee et al., 2020). Our Phase 1 participants shared similar experiences of interactions with colleagues that appeared embedded in preconceptions formulated around these women’s (non-Anglicised) names or knowing of their migrant and/or cultural background, often in relation to their (inferior) language ability or otherwise inferring that they don’t “fit in” (Arifeen and Syed, 2020). In Phase 2, we chose to focus on a gender comparison of cultural values held by skilled migrants, rather than their country of origin or self-defined cultural identity. Although we had hypothesised (based on prior research) that females would score lower than males for the higher-order value of self-enhancement, for our skilled migrant sample this was not the case. Nor was there a significant difference between migrant women and men for the underlying value of achievement, which represents the personal importance of successful demonstrations of competence (Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022). These findings are perhaps not surprising when one considers the personal drivers that often play a role in the decision to permanently migrate, including seeking enhanced opportunities for themselves and their families. However, males did score higher for the second underlying value of power, which represents a desire for social status, prestige and control over others (Sagiv and Schwartz, 2022). Our hypothesis that, among skilled migrants, females would score higher than males for the higher-order value of self-transcendence, representing concerns for the welfare and interests of others, was supported.

Focusing on our second research question relating to career advancement, at the first-level intersectional site of gender with career advancement, our Phase 1 participants shared narratives aligned with the growing body of literature on women’s career trajectories, including the continued impact of gender stereotypes (Brescoll, 2016). It was the stories of women who were also parents that particularly emerged at this intersection, reconfirming the “breaks” in workforce participation mothers experience arising from both fertility/birthing (Keller and Utar, 2022) and societal gender norms in relation to childcare (Herman, 2015). In Phase 2, as predicted, we found no significant difference in career advancement goals between female and male skilled migrant managers, highlighting gender equity in relation to the personal importance of career progression.

It was at the second-level intersectionality sites incorporating career advancement that unique aspects began to emerge. At the intersection of gender with skilled migration and career advancement, the earlier identified issues pertinent to skilled migration became more important. For example, the loss of professional networks from their home country, which can be experienced by both female and male skilled migrants, was exacerbated for women who were mothers and had less opportunity to redevelop these networks due to their family needs, a “double break” in their career trajectories. This impact was also observed in our Phase 2 sample where, as predicted, there was no significant difference between females and males in relation to their engagement in proactive career behaviours in the context of their workplace role, but female migrant managers reported lower engagement than males in proactive career behaviours that extended beyond their workplace role and/or organisation. Furthermore, our post-hoc analysis examined an additional intersection with family, specifically parenting one or more children under the age of 18, demonstrating a significant decrease in engagement in externally-focused career behaviours for mothers.

The final contribution of our study was found in Phase 1 at the third-level intersectionality of gender, skilled migration, cultural background and career advancement. Our sample of skilled migrant women from Southern and Eastern Asian countries revealed a unique experience in relation to employing domestic help. In the context of migrating from their home countries to Australia, there was a loss of paid support with family and household responsibilities, both of which then became a larger part of their domain in comparison to their husband. Thus, their time available for career development activities was substantially reduced upon migration. It is important to recognise Australia’s employment law context, where a minimum wage level is proscribed. It would appear this cost was not a viable option in the manner it was in their home countries – nor did they have the options of extended family support of some of their Australian-born colleagues. We found one other study that identified these concerns for the cost of paid domestic assistance in the context of migrant women’s careers. Meares’ (2010) work was with migrant women (from South Africa) to New Zealand, a country that has a politically (and geographically) close context to Australia. Pursuing an intersectionality-driven research approach in the current study enabled the emergence of this unique experience – and also highlighted the potential for simultaneous privilege (having been in a financial position to employ domestic support before migration) and deficit at the sites of intersectionality.

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which issues of intersectionality affect equal opportunity as manifested in employment experiences of skilled migrant women and men in Australia. To do so, we adopted an intracategorical approach via qualitative interviews with skilled migrant women from Southern and Eastern Asia to Australia, as well as an intercategorical approach via a quantitative survey of both female and male skilled migrant managers. By focusing on the intersection of four social categories (gender, skilled migration, cultural background and career aspirations), our findings reinforced the complexity arising from the combination of individual, organisational and societal influences in skilled migrant managers’ workplace experiences and opportunities for career advancement.

We contend that governmental recourse to quantitative measures of the outcomes relating to both workplace gender equality and migrant employment presents an incomplete illustration of the career experiences of women and migrants. Giving consideration to the processes that underlie these outcomes, including the role of intersectional differences, can identify key indicators for organisations and government when deciding and revising future policies and practices. Governments may be falling short of the economic and productivity outcomes that drive the introduction of skilled migration programs if a holistic view of the career experiences of skilled migrants are not considered. For organisations, a recognition of intersectionality features can enable human resource professional and senior managers to enhance the diversity of career opportunities and supports provided. By recognising these features, employers and migrants alike can be better equipped to achieve the best outcomes for each other. Finally, it is important for both governments and employers to facilitate skilled migrants’ learning about the less elucidated but important cultural immersion elements wherever possible. This would enable them to better connect with the wider society, and consequently provide them a “shorter” and clearer time-frame/pathway to employment and career advancement in Australia.

As discussed earlier, intersectionality research requires researchers to choose with social categories they will focus on and therefore which intersectionalities are not explored, as well as which dimensions within each social category are examined. A limitation of the current paper relates to its generalisability, given the specific focus on skilled migrants to Australia and the small sample size in Phase 1. Nevertheless the focus on sites of intersectionality for gender with skilled migration, cultural background and aspiration for managerial career advancement – alongside the emergent intersection with parenting – highlighted the value on research grounded in intersectionality theory. We encourage future research to examine to experience at other points of intersection, including different migration pathways, different education and employment backgrounds and different home/host country combinations.

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under Program DP1092722.