Colourism is a more insidious form of racism, and harms the prospects of finding work and love for people with darker skin around the world.

Natasha Pizzey reports from Mexico and Daniel Gallas reports from Brazil on the efforts to fight back against the prejudice against skin tone, which often emanates from within the same ethnic community as the victims. Meanwhile, Ed Butler speaks to Sunil Bhatia, a professor of human development at Connecticut College in the US, who has studied the rise of this phenomenon around the world.

(Picture: Two young black women with contrasting skin tones; Credit: PeopleImages/Getty Images)