Before her last day in the job as sex discrimination commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick has declared the barriers for women of multicultural backgrounds remain immense.
"For those women; not only does their gender create inequality but when you combine it with their cultural background, their language background, that really operates to really compound the disadvantage and discrimination that they might experience," she said.
While more broadly, Ms Broderick has seen a doubling of women on company boards in her eight years in the role, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are much harder to find.
"There's no question that there's greater disadvantage when it comes to attaining equality for those women to stepping up into leadership roles," she said.
The Commissioner says business leaders of major corporations must also consider a range of circumstances when tackling gender equality issues.
"My message has been very clearly that not all women come from the same starting point, that women are as diverse as men and that we must recognise and assist those women who have greater likelihood of discrimination to really step up even more," she said.
The Commissioner's successor is yet to be named.
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