Racism and the ‘non-reporting’ journey: what research tells us about barriers to reporting discrimination, and how we can address them
A new report from Victoria University and the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria demonstrates that people face similar barriers to reporting racism as they do reporting workplace sexual harassment.
Racism is an entrenched and significant problem in Australia, however, we are often unwilling to grapple with its complexity and prevalence. A new report by Victoria University and the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (the ECCV report) breaks ground in investigating the reasons behind under-reporting of racist incidents in Australia. As a society, we have a limited understanding of reporting, people’s attitudes towards it and, crucially, reasons behind people’s avoidance of it. The ECCV report shows that, just as the reasons people choose not to report sexual harassment are many and systemic, so are the reasons people do not report racism.
76.2% of respondents reported experiencing racism themselves, and a further 11% reported witnessing racism. Most respondents from all ethno-cultural backgrounds had experienced racism, and most had experienced racism recently: in the previous 12 months, 65.9% experienced racism directly, while 31.7% had witnessed racism. Many incidents of racism were experienced in the context of employment (56.5%), and in shopping centres (49.5%) and other public spaces (37.3%).
As with sexual harassment and sex discrimination, applying an intersectional lens is enlightening. 80% of respondents aged 18-25 and 79.6% of those aged 26-35 reported experiencing racism. Participants in focus groups observed racism against young people when in public spaces and in interactions with police. Participants also noted that racism is experienced in gendered ways: in particular, Muslim women who wear hijab or niqab are targeted. This further demonstrates that people with relatively less power are more likely to experience racism, and the racism they experience is bound with prejudices about other aspects of their identity, such as their gender.
These statistics are valuable, especially in a research landscape that has paid very little attention to collecting data on racism. However, the main purpose of the ECCV’s research is to understand the factors behind why people choose not to report these incidents of racism. Most people do not report their experiences through formal channels: only 15.5% of respondents had ever reported racism to an organisation or community group. 21.1% had never told anyone at all.
It is clear that there is something – likely many things – keeping people from reporting to channels ostensibly designed to deal with these incidents. The overwhelming reason why people do not report racism, as identified by the people themselves, is the belief that nothing would change if they did. 50.8% of respondents strongly agreed and 39.8% of respondents somewhat agreed that reporting would do nothing. Additionally, many respondents strongly (45.8%) or somewhat (37.4%) agreed that reporting is too difficult, while more still agreed (42.7% strongly and 33.2% somewhat) that their report would not be taken seriously.
It is clear that, compared to sexual harassment, people are very aware of the seriousness and inappropriateness of racism when they experience it. It seems that they are less confident that other people, and the systems they interact with, will treat them seriously. This is further backed up by the ECCV. A minority of people who reported to the police (9/25) and the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission (6/16) either strongly or somewhat agreed that these institutions helped them get the outcome they were hoping for. More people, but never more than half, felt that these institutions took their reports seriously.
While respondents to the ECCV’s research were unlikely to report incidents of racism through official channels, they would often (63.4%) relay their experiences to family or friends. Sharing these experiences with community is important, both for individual support and community strength. However, if we need people to use official reporting channels, we need to understand not only why they are suspicious of these channels, but also how we can improve them. We can apply insights from the ECCV report to best practice research on safe, person centred and trauma informed reporting to imagine a space in which people may be more comfortable sharing experiences of racism. These reporting channels should be clear that people can choose to report in their preferred manner, anonymously if they choose.
Of course, people need to trust that their details will not be shared widely, but they also need to feel that their report will make a difference. Trustworthy, safe reporting systems will provide us with the knowledge we need to address entrenched injustice such as racism.
Reach out for a no-obligation discussion with one of our experts about racism and reporting in the workplace.