Nearly 80% of women from ethnic minorities have experienced discrimination at work, according to a new report.

Nearly 80% of women from ethnic minorities have experienced discrimination at work, according to a new report.

The survey said that the impact of racism, sexism, Islamophobia and stereotyping "discouraged and excluded" ethnic minority women from applying for jobs and getting promotion.

It also found that 55% of ethnic minority women said they had experienced racism and sexism at university.

The research was conducted as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the experiences of Scottish ethnic minority women at work, conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission for Scotland (EOC).

The full report, to be published today, was commissioned to highlight concerns that ethnic minority women are being held back in their careers, despite outstanding academic success at school.

Girls from ethnic minorities were the highest achieving group in Scottish schools in 2004-05 with 46% of pupils in S4 gaining five or more Standard Grades at credit level compared to 39% of females from white ethnic groups.

However, ethnic minority women are likely to be clustered in a narrower range of occupations than white women, be working for less pay or be severely under-represented at senior levels.

Ethnic minority women are three times more likely to be unemployed than white women, but in some cases are twice as likely to hold higher degrees.

Some of the women who took part in the survey detailed the problems they had experienced.

One said: "Since graduating, I have found it very hard to get a job in engineering, some say I am over-qualified, some say I'm not specialised, there is always some excuse. I fill out so many applications and never seem to get an interview." Another said: "Generally it seems to me that there are very few Asian women in senior and executive jobs at university."

The EOC Scotland is set to publish its findings in the final report which will urge the Scottish Executive to address the problem. In terms of higher education, the EOC wants to see universities take a more pro-active approach in monitoring racism and sexism.

Rowena Arshad, commissioner for EOC Scotland, said: "Although the findings are a wake-up call, we should also focus on the good news that there is a talented pool of young visible minority ethnic women, doing fantastically well academically."