For a country that’s as multicultural as Australia and likes to take pride in the whole “fair go” schtick, we really have a problem with discrimination and not giving people a, well, fair go. Case in point: Asian-Australians are the ethnic group most likely to be discriminated against.
According to a nationwide survey involving over 2,000 people conducted by the Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research & Methods and the Social Research Centre, 82 percent of Asian-Australian respondents reported experiencing discrimination, putting them at the top of this depressing pile ahead of Middle-Eastern Australians (81 percent) and Indigenous Australians (71 percent).
The survey also dived into situations where Asian-Australians faced discrimination and the results paint a grim picture as the most common scenarios were “at a shop or restaurant” followed by “workplace” and “education.”
Speaking personally, that sounds… about right actually. I’ve lost count of the times where I’ve been given a cold shoulder at a shop or restaurant, only for my thick Australian accent to cut through the awkward attempts of condescension.
That’s just speaking from my own experience. When you take into account that Asian-Australians make up about 12 percent of Australia’s population, that’s a lot of discrimination going on in this country.
One of the more depressing stats from the survey is the lack of Asian-Australians in senior leadership positions.
Of the 12 percent of Asian-Australians living Down Under, only 3.1 percent are in some sort of leadership role at unis, community organisations and companies. That’s a tiny number, especially since that 12 percent is going to only grow in the future.
There are many issues as to why Asian-Australians are struggling to push through this “bamboo ceiling,” such as societal stereotyping, cultural clashes and racism.
From a personal perspective, Asians are seen as mere followers and are expected to follow orders. In Australia, it’s difficult to reconcile the culture of Asian humility that’s been instilled in us with the Western notion of proudly owning your achievements.
Professor Gareth Evans, Chancellor of the ANU, says “there’s more work to be done to address these findings,” but stresses that “there really is a bamboo ceiling in Australia and change will only come when we address the very real challenges faced by Asian-Australians.”
He’s certainly not wrong but getting more Asian-Australians – and any ethnic group – into leadership roles will require Australia gets rid of preconceived societal stereotypes regarding personality, ethnicity, gender and ability, and the numbers show that the country is still lagging behind in that regard.
At the moment, it’s perhaps more accurate to call Australia the land of the “fair go (but only if you’re white).”