diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html.py b/sphinx/writers/html.py
index d633f07e8e0..e9a31a848ca 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html.py
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ def depart_term(self, node: Element) -> None:
     # overwritten
     def visit_title(self, node: Element) -> None:
         if isinstance(node.parent, addnodes.compact_paragraph) and node.parent.get('toctree'):
-            self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'p', '', CLASS='caption'))
+            self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'p', '', CLASS='caption', ROLE='heading'))
             self.body.append('<span class="caption-text">')
             self.context.append('</span></p>\n')
         else:
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html5.py b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
index 4696425910b..5b38b3be281 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html5.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ def depart_term(self, node: Element) -> None:
     # overwritten
     def visit_title(self, node: Element) -> None:
         if isinstance(node.parent, addnodes.compact_paragraph) and node.parent.get('toctree'):
-            self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'p', '', CLASS='caption'))
+            self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'p', '', CLASS='caption', ROLE='heading'))
             self.body.append('<span class="caption-text">')
             self.context.append('</span></p>\n')
         else:
diff --git a/tests/test_intl.py b/tests/test_intl.py
index 73d94166ea9..7791b4aeed5 100644
--- a/tests/test_intl.py
+++ b/tests/test_intl.py
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ def test_html_meta(app):
     assert expected_expr in result
     expected_expr = '<meta content="I18N, SPHINX, MARKUP" name="keywords" />'
     assert expected_expr in result
-    expected_expr = '<p class="caption"><span class="caption-text">HIDDEN TOC</span></p>'
+    expected_expr = '<p class="caption" role="heading"><span class="caption-text">HIDDEN TOC</span></p>'
     assert expected_expr in result