A few months ago, the hashtag #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen trended worldwide on Twitter. It was used by women of colour to voice their frustrations about mainstream feminism. I followed the discussion very closely, and at times found myself occasionally yelling "yes!" whenever I read a remark that resonated with my experiences as an Aboriginal Australian woman.

Following the latest gender storm in Australian feminism, many of the feelings expressed thanks to the hashtag have been on my mind. I am of course referring to the brouhaha sparked by Tony Abbott's cabinet appointments, with only one female deemed good enough to be called to serve. Pages and pages have been written about Abbott's "gender problem", and the reasoning behind his selection has been analysed to death. Most commentators centred on Abbott's insistence that he determined his picks based on merit. But in all of the column inches devoted to this topic, I have yet to read anything in terms of race equality.

Australia is a multicultural country: 26% of Australians were born overseas and a further 20% of Australians have at least one parent who was not born here. It’s not a giant leap to assume that arounf a quarter of Australia's elected officials would be of non-Anglo Saxon ethnicities. This is not the case. The two major parties either choose to ignore this data, or don’t put as much effort into pre-selecting ethnicities other than white Australians for electoral seats. This is systemic racism of the most basic kind.

As an Aboriginal Australian, I am more than aware of the effort people will put into excusing racist behaviour in order not to face the unutterable truth. While Australia has made strides in shirking its reputation of entrenched racism, the facts still remain: non-white Australians are not adequately represented. And so when Abbott talks about "merit", I cannot help but wonder about the criteria his idea of merit is based upon. It seems to me the archetype of his selections are white, middle class to wealthy, privately school educated and people that have chosen politics as their career field, not grassroots people that have entered politics to right perceived inadequacies in the system.

In the face of this, where does that leave politicians who are not white, middle class to wealthy or private school educated? It leaves them in a position where we have to prove we hold our positions due to merit, unlike those currently in cabinet.

Take Barry O’Farrell, who recently questioned the merit of Linda Burney in a very public way when he said that former community services minister Pru Goward had "achieved every position in her life on merit", before turning to Burney to declare "you can’t say that [about yourself]". There are many ways to interpret this statement, the least of which is that O’Farrell was dismissing Burney's comments about Goward by dint of her Aboriginality, and inferring Burney was only in her position because of it. Regardless, Burney is an incredibly accomplished woman in the field of education and anti-discrimination.

In the same vein, I recently had a conversation with an incredibly intelligent Aboriginal woman who is attending university overseas, and who was very upset about people assuming – quite revoltingly I might add – the only reason she was at that particular prestigious school was because of her Aboriginality, not because she worked exceptionally hard to win her spot.

I call myself a feminist because I am passionate about equal rights for everyone. And as a feminist, I am becoming more and more concerned about the state of equality in Australia. More to the point, I am uneasy about the narrow confines the term "equality" has taken in regards to feminism. The only conclusion I draw from talks of merit is that only white people are worthy recipients of it, and that any person who is not white must be extraordinarily accomplished – much more than her white peers – to be even deserving of merit in the eyes of many.

Australian feminists are champions of gender equality, as evidenced by movements such as Destroy the Joint and Collective Shout. But when it comes to racial equality, I am finding more and more that feminism here is seriously lacking. With the notable exception of Destroy the Joint briefly coming out to bat for a disproportionate amount of Aboriginal women being gaoled for redacting statements in domestic violence cases, all is quiet on the western feminist front.

When I read about affirmative action and quotas to get more women on boards and in senior positions, I cannot help but think the lack of attention towards racial diversity is becoming a severe oversight. Can you name an Aboriginal woman off the top of your head that occupies a CEO position? Can you name a woman or man of African descent that is a member of parliament?

It’s all well and good to want to advocate for women. But there must be intersectionality in feminism – not all women happen to be white, or middle class. Australian feminists must recognise and join the fight for racial diversity. Aboriginal and indeed many black/brown women are being left behind because as it stands, while the table may still be lacking women, it’s also lacking colour.