(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
A new report has found women are under-represented on Australia public and private sector boards and those from non-English speaking backgrounds are invisible.
The federal government-funded report was launched at the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia's biennial meeting on the Gold Coast.
It recommends the federal government tackle the issue urgently and says it should start by collecting data that is virtually non-existent.
The government says it will look at the recommendations.
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She's the successful child of migrants, has worked her way up in politics and was even once a Coalition shadow minister.
Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs, opened the Federation of Ethnic Community Council of Australia's conference.
She was not present when the report - Promoting CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) Women's Participation on Boards and in Decision-Making Positions - was launched.
"Can I say I'm looking forward to reading that report and again my own experiences in this area and, certainly, it is an issue I'm familiar with and I look forward to reading that report and seeing some of those recommendations there. "
People at the conference suggested she could be an example of an ethnic woman who has been overlooked for a board position.
When the new Abbott government cabinet was announced, there was only one woman at the table.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells missed out but dismissed suggestions it was due to ethnicity.
"Politics is an interesting game, I'm very happy with what I have, the experience I have gained in previous portfolios will stand me in very good stead, let's not forget that multicultural affairs is a broad spectrum of issues."
But the FECCA report says it is not an unusual story.
And not only are women losing out to white, middle-aged men, but for ethnic women, the glass ceiling is even lower.
Sex Discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick launched the report.
"The significance of it is this is probably the first report looking at Culturally and Linguistically Diverse women, women from non-English speaking backgrounds, in Australia. So this report contains some hard data about why women are finding it difficult getting into leadership positions in Australia."
But the report was unable to say just how many women from non-English speaking backgrounds there are in the top jobs because of a general lack of data.
Ms Broderick says corporate and public sector boards are missing out.
"What the boards are missing out on are the full range of diversity. One woman in the focus groups just put it so succinctly: we're resilient because we adapt to change, we understand a whole range of cultures, we've moved from one country to another so we understand how to overcome barriers, there all the things that women from CALD backgrounds can bring onto boards, and let's face it, a quarter of the country's population was born in a country outside of Australia, the represent consumers and share holders, so if our companies are going to be representative, they need CALD women on their boards."
The report comes just weeks after the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report ranked Australia 24th in the world, a drop of nine places since 2006.
That places Australia below Latvia, The Philippines and Burundi.
Helen Conway, from the federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency, says there is a combination of racist and sexist factors at work and it makes Australia look bad internationally.
"I think sadly what it says is we are slipping in our performance, so our reputation will obviously be affected, but we are a young country, we are a wealthy country, so I think these figures should be the impetus to say enough is enough, we need to improve our performance, we understand the benefits, let's get on with it."
Sex Discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says the report is a starting point.
"There are a number of recommendations, the most important is that it needs to be a national approach to CALD women's leadership, number two there's no data and there's a very strong recommendation around the collection of data, when we collect sex desegregated data, the number of women and men, we also have to collect data about their cultural heritage."
Helen Conway from the federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency says data already being collected will act as an impetus.
"There is a little bit of information available. The ASX regulates listed companies of course, and they have to provide some information around their gender diversity initiatives, on an 'if not, why not' basis, that's 'small r' regulation, we can use that data to go to employers and say, this is what good looks like, this is what bad looks like, this is how you are positioned, and these are some things you can do to improve your performance."
The Australian Securities Commission's Traffic Light Index shows just eight per cent of the top 200 companies have fully adopted gender diversity principles.
Thirteen per cent have done little or nothing to address the issue and about half could do a lot better.
Sex Discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says there has been some progress in the public sector, which can act as a stepping stone to corporate board membership.
"In government there has been a really significant increase in the number of women coming onto boards, they set a target of 40 per cent, it's currently at 38 per cent, what we need to ensure is that as the continues to grow, CALD women are well represented in that percentage."
As for Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs, she still has aspirations to sit at the top table one day.
"One hopes but look I'm very happy doing what I'm doing know, I find I enjoy it, I always enjoyed it, it's very rewarding and there are so many positive stories to tell in this area."
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