Skilled, Qualified and Overlooked: The Barriers Holding Migrant Women Back

Settlement Services International (SSI) and the Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance (AMWA) have released a new report examining the experiences of migrant and refugee women navigating Australia’s overseas skills recognition system.

The report, Activate Her Skills: Harnessing the Economic Potential of Migrant Women through Better Skills Recognition, is based on a national survey of 64 migrant and refugee women and economic modelling by Deloitte Access Economics and Precision Economics. It finds that more than 340,000 migrant and refugee women in Australia are currently working below their level of skill and qualification.

Key Findings

The survey identified cost and time as the most frequently cited barriers to skills recognition. Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said the time-consuming nature of the process was a major obstacle, and 56 per cent identified financial cost. Pathways to professional registration can involve multi-stage assessments, licensing fees, English language tests and bridging courses, which together can amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

The report notes that recognition processes are often designed around what it describes as an “unencumbered worker” — someone with financial security, flexibility and no care responsibilities. This model, the report argues, does not reflect the circumstances of many migrant women, particularly those who arrive as secondary visa holders. Female permanent migrants make up 62 per cent of secondary applicants in the skilled visa stream. Because visa applications centre on the primary applicant’s skills and experience, the qualifications of secondary applicants receive less assessment and structured support.

According to the report, migrant women are 20 per cent more likely to have their skills underutilised than migrant men, despite being, on average, better educated. They also face higher unemployment, lower workforce participation and earn on average 30 per cent less than comparable Australian-born workers. For those with postgraduate qualifications, the wage gap is wider still.

Only 41 per cent of survey respondents reported working in a role closely related to their overseas qualifications, while nearly one-third were working in a field unrelated to their professional background. The report also documents impacts beyond employment: respondents described loss of professional confidence and identity, mental health strain, and financial dependency. Some linked recognition delays and financial insecurity to increased vulnerability to domestic and financial abuse.

The Human Cost

Survey respondents described the experience of prolonged skills non-recognition in terms of professional and personal impact. Qualifications were described as feeling “worthless”, careers as being “on hold”, and professional identity as having been “erased”. The report concludes that skills recognition carries implications not only for workforce participation but for gender equity and personal safety.

Recommendations

The report puts forward four recommendations to the Australian Government. These are: establishing a single national governance body with an independent commissioner to oversee all overseas skills and qualifications recognition; integrating the recognition process from migration through to employment, with equal support for primary and secondary visa applicants; providing targeted financial assistance and a national multilingual online portal to help migrant women navigate the system; and setting up employment hubs staffed by dedicated skills recognition navigators in areas with significant migrant populations.

Economic Context

According to economic modelling cited in the report, lifting migrant women’s workforce participation to match that of Australian-born women would add billions of dollars to the national economy. The report also notes that comparable countries including Germany and Canada have implemented system-wide reforms to make overseas skills recognition faster, more affordable and better coordinated.

The Activate Her Skills report was produced by the Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance and Settlement Services International as part of the Activate Australia’s Skills campaign, a coalition of more than 130 organisations calling for reform of Australia’s overseas skills recognition system. The full report is available at activateaustralia.org.au.