A business woman is seen walking through the Melbourne Exhibition Centre in Melbourne [Source: AAP Image/Julian Smith]

Discrimination of women of colour is trending in the wrong direction, with surveying showing racism is still prevalent in corporate Australia.

Women of Colour Australia founder and executive director Brenda Gaddi was not overly surprised to see a 10 per cent rise in workplace discrimination since 2021, nor most of those incidents involving racism.

Two-in-three women in colour surveyed for the 2024 report, which was done in partnership with Australian National University, had experienced discrimination in the workplace

“I’m acutely aware, as a person of colour, that racism is still alive in the workplace,” Ms Gaddi told AAP.

Yet she was hopeful greater awareness and consciousness could in part explain the surge in women in colour experiencing workforce discrimination, with 2021 levels likely understated.

“People are now talking about it more,” she said.

Despite the data showing growing awareness of anti-discrimination laws and psychosocial safety requirements, Ms Gaddi said discrimination was escalating.

Women of colour reported having their opinions and ideas dismissed, discrimination based on names and accents, and stress from not being able to bring their whole and authentic selves to work.

“It is exhausting, trying to be both authentic in order to build rapport and relationships, whilst maintaining a ‘professional’ demeanour and image,” one respondent said.

Discrimination was a common reason women of colour surveyed were planning to quit, with lack of carer progression and job insecurity also cited as drivers to leave.

Nearly half were planning to resign within the next 12 months.

Too few women of colour felt alerting their employer would lead to effective recourse, with only half aware of a formal mechanism to report a discrimination incident.

WoCA executive director and lead report author Varina Michaels said this finding was alarming and suggested low reporting numbers was not a good indicator of discrimination prevalence in organisations.

“Discrimination is well and truly present, but they are simply not reported,” Dr Michaels said.

“Women of colour should be empowered to speak up without fear of retaliation or inaction.”

Ms Gaddi recommended setting up an external body or ombudsman for women of colour to report to in the knowledge they would be heard and there would be consequences for racism.

Tracking discrimination incidents would further help women of colour avoid companies with too many strikes against them, she said.