The Korean migrant woman who does not speak English is rendered silent and incommunicado. Little further justification is required for her lack of inclusion in mainstream society of which the labour market features. Labour market participation is a form of symbolic interaction that is manifested by acceptance, financial reward and the granting of particular working conditions and opportunities. The function of communication, here the English language, is concealed as a measurable and necessary skill, and operates to permit or prevent entry into the Australian labour market organisation. Even where entry is allowed and the Korean woman appears to be accepted, the lack of substantive and total inclusion, recognition and opportunities ensure that the Korean woman is constantly reminded that she is marginalised, at some distance from the dominant Australian English-speaking culture. The dominant culture, as Bourdieu (1991) describes, measures different subcultures in terms of distance from itself, creating a hierarchy based upon proximity. This hierarchy is expressed through the exclusion or inclusion of people at designated levels in the labour market organisation.
