Intersectionality in Action: Lina Orozco Speaks at NAWO’s Operation Respect Event

I was once told by one of my first employers here in Australia that I didn’t understand intersectionality.

Maybe she meant I hadn’t read in full the academic definition by Kimberlé Crenshaw, who originally coined the term “intersectionality.” Maybe I didn’t provide a “perfect translation” of what intersectionality meant in theory. But I did understand, deeply, from experience, how intersectionality has played a significant role in my life since I arrived in Australia. 

I am a migrant woman from Latin America, with English as a second language, who had to restart her career from scratch, here, despite having, at the time, five years of marketing and comms experience plus a master’s in communications and media studies from Monash University. This was just because my overseas experience and qualifications, in addition to my “beautiful” accent, weren’t good enough for Australian employers to feel I was a qualified professional. 

And I know that many of my similarly brilliant and qualified migrant friends and colleagues have experienced these same barriers. So, perhaps, I didn’t provide a dictionary-perfect definition of intersectionality, but I knew and know, profoundly, how intersectionality has impacted my life and the lives of those around me. What more did I need to understand?

You don’t need to be an academic or have read Crenshaw’s “Demarginalising the Intersection of Race and Sex” to understand the basics of intersectionality and recognise the drastic and sometimes devastating impact it has on the lives of marginalised communities, such as the migrant and multicultural women one. 

Despite being one of the most multicultural countries in the world, research shows that in Australia, multicultural communities and individuals continue to be disproportionately underrepresented across public and private leadership positions, and have unequal access to institutional and structural power. Institutional racism remains stubbornly entrenched – we see this through the dangerous rhetoric peddled by politicians surrounding migrant and refugee communities, the alarming attitudes towards First Nations people, and the distressing prevalence of gender-based violence against multicultural women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island women and people. 

Discrimination based on race, faith, and cultural background continues to hinder our collective ability to grow, learn from one another, and create more compassionate and empathetic communities. And while dismantling and combatting institutional racism and discrimination is so much more challenging than individual cases of racism and discrimination – it is possible! 

We are all in this room together today, because we’re deeply passionate about working together to create a safer world. The lack of intersectional approaches to the design of systems and structures around us continues to impact the lives of multicultural women, as well as women and people in other marginalised communities such as women with disabilities, gender-diverse people, elderly women, and women with different types of bodies to mention a few. The absence of an intersectional lens is not only affecting our well-being, but it is also affecting our career progression, financial independence, and decision-making agency. Gender equity in the workplace without an intersectionality lens only serves to compound the harm to women in my community and the many distinct and diverse marginalised communities mentioned earlier.

I want to tell you about L. L is a migrant woman from our Professional Migrant Women (PMW) community, and English is her second language. L had a male colleague who would always highlight to everyone in the workplace that she had an accent. On one occasion, they had an important meeting at her workplace, with not only colleagues but also leadership and management. In the middle of the meeting, when L was presenting a new initiative to the team, her male colleague interrupted her and made a condescending remark about how “cute” her accent was. In this instance, instead of smiling uncomfortably and letting it pass, as she usually did, L told her male colleague, in front of everyone, to stop his continued comments about her accent and to please address her in a professional manner.

Now, from an outside perspective, you might think that it was a bit inappropriate, sure, but it wasn’t that bad, was it? If you analyse this experience as a single instance, I might even agree with you – to some extent. But these small comments and snide remarks are rarely a one-off. What you and L’s male colleague probably don’t see is the accumulation of “little things” that stack up and contribute to L’s feeling that she does not belong in her workplace or is not taken seriously. It’s not just one microaggression but a constant string of them, from not just one colleague but several, even managers, that make us feel undervalued, and belittled, causing us to have to work twice as hard to show our value and overcome the internal biases of others.

Women of Colour’s Workplaces report demonstrates, in numbers, this exact feeling. According to their report, almost 3 in 4 (72%) of the women of colour surveyed feel underpaid, with the vast majority (80%) asked to do unpaid work and (88%) expected to do more work than others at a similar level. Meanwhile, their contributions are consistently undervalued, stolen or ignored by their peers, managers and leaders. 

These statistics reflect the stories of members of our own community. In 2022, we published a book called ‘Undefeated’ – which I highly recommend! For those who don’t know, Undefeated is an anthology of over 100 stories from 90 migrant women from diverse backgrounds and walks of life. And today, I want to share with you the extracts of some of these stories.

In her story, Bianca, a Romanian migrant woman, wrote: “I’m often told that being multilingual is a gift, a skill to be proud of, a talent that offers VIP access to the lounges of a comfortable life. What a lie! This is what monolingual people say to make me feel… accepted? Smart, despite having an accent?” 

When I first arrived in Australia, one of my biggest concerns was making sure my accent wasn’t too strong so I would be taken seriously and could find a job as a waitress to support myself while I studied. This concern was compounded by the stress of feeling lonely (mind you, I came to Australia by myself), making sure I was doing great in my master’s program and finding a part-time job before my savings ran out. How could my concern about having an accent be comparable to having enough to eat or a place to sleep while doing well in my studies? But it was a major point of stress, one that still resurfaces today whenever I have to chair a team meeting, give a public presentation (just like this one), or attend a hiring interview. And I am still not the only one who carries this anxiety today.

Taylor, a Vietnamese-Australian and also an author of the book, often gets compliments about how good her English is. Although she knows that people who make these comments don’t mean to offend her, they do stack up. In her own words, “It labels me as an outlander in this culturally diverse English speaking country. It comes with the assumption that any Asian-looking person who is new to Melbourne won’t be able to speak English well.” 

Diversity and inclusion have become a cosmetic exercise where some organisations portray a diverse workforce façade in their hiring posters, but in reality, the internal workplace culture hasn’t changed at all. Having a quota to fill in your diversity poster is not enough. A 2019 study from McKinsey, Diversity Makes Firms More Productive, found that normative acceptance of gender equality requires a widespread cultural belief that gender diversity and inclusion are important. Workplaces must commit to changing the culture inside, at all levels.

Celia is a lawyer with 15 years of experience who currently sits on various advisory boards. She often finds herself as the only woman of colour in leadership rooms, and she is well aware of it. In her story, The White Table, she shares one experience in such rooms, where she felt she had to arrive early, “conscious of not being the late brown one”.

We know from experiences within our PMW community that Celia’s story is not unique. There are levels of value placed on different cultures and languages, and perceptions of language barriers that impact the levels of discrimination we face. Lots of migrant women have said that they feel their leadership style isn’t appreciated, mostly because it simply doesn’t fit the Westernised status quo. And just like Celia, they end up being completely ignored in a room full of people, or as she writes it, “Between bites of expensive breakfast, they all share stories with each other, but not with me.”

ANROWS, The Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety’s latest study, Migrant and Refugee Women: A National Study, found how these types of discrimination can also seriously impact whether a multicultural woman feels safe and supported to report harassment in the workplace. Multicultural women face additional discrimination and stereotypical biases that make their reporting different — the reporting process often “others” them (through their names, hair, skin colour, and even faith) or, worse still, completely ignores them, making them feel that they won’t be taken seriously or believed. Making them feel trapped in a job that doesn’t value or respect them.

Paid employment and a regular income are crucial for migrant women’s residence and safety in Australia. Many avoid formally disclosing their experiences due to fears about job security, opting instead to share informally with friends or colleagues. Systemic racism, which includes not recognising overseas qualifications and work experience, a lack of support networks, and embarrassment over accents, makes finding new jobs challenging for migrants. As a result, many migrant and refugee women, like others across Australia, choose to leave unsafe work environments rather than speak up, reflecting the impact of workplace inaction and a culture of victim-blaming on their ability to secure both livelihood and safety. 

To prioritise multicultural women’s safety at work, it’s essential to recognise that isolated responses to discrimination, exploitation, and harassment fail to address the reality that women often experience these behaviours simultaneously, all of which undermine their safety and well-being. Current policies tend to look at different forms of workplace harm in isolation, but much of the problem lies at the intersections, such as when racism emboldens sexual harassment, presenting a significant challenge to existing systems.

I am not here to lecture you about gender equality or intersectionality. I am here to remind you about what is behind the stories you read and the statistics and numbers you see; to remind you that a real person sits at the heart of these experiences, and to inspire you to take stock of the power and privilege you might have to influence change.

Somewhere right now, there is a young woman who might be contemplating the biggest decision of her life; leaving her family and friends on the other side of the world to move to Australia; hoping to apply her extensive skills and expertise that she has worked hard to cultivate. Hoping that her multilingual abilities and experience of diverse cultures and communities will be welcomed for the gifts that they are.

Today, I want you to think about who is not in the room. Whose stories are we not hearing or sharing? What experiences might be overlooked or ignored through systems and structures that aren’t attuned to intersectional needs? Who is missing, and how can we fix this?

And ultimately, how can we work together to ensure these stories sow the seeds for change?  

Thank you.

Author: Lina Orozco Munera.