ByAliaUK law protects individuals against discrimination on grounds of several ‘protected characteristics’ such as race, age, disability and gender reassignment. While there is no protection for hair discrimination, you may be afforded protection under the Equality Act 2010 if you are treated less favourably linked to your hair or hairstyle because of your race.
Several instances of racial hair discrimination in the UK have made headlines in recent years. In 2015, Lara Odoffin, a Bournemouth University graduate, claimed her job offer was withdrawn because she wore her hair in braids and south Londoner Simone Powderly was offered a job on the condition that she took out her braids. Two years ago, a black woman applying for a job at Harrods was told to chemically straighten her hair.
innie Awa, founder of black haircare website Antidote Street, believes the issue goes deeper.
“It is rather absurd that hair should be used as an indication of how an individual might perform at work. Hair as it grows out of one’s head or even as an aesthetic choice has little to do with the skills, expertise or value that a person can bring to the workplace. Companies must pay attention to the role of unconscious bias in their hiring practices and actively seek to counter its effects.”
In August 2016, Perception Institute set out to explore whether Americans generally show bias – implicit or explicit – towards natural hair worn by black women, and whether black women share this bias. The potential for ‘hair bias’ to limit both perceptions of self and opportunities in the workplace has a distinct impact on black women.
if you’re curious to know the full report of this study then go to www.perception.org/goodhair/results or search online for The “Good Hair” Study
If you read the full study you will understand that On average, white women show explicit bias toward black women’s textured hair. They rate it as less beautiful, less sexy/attractive, and less professional than smooth hair.
Black women in the natural hair community have significantly more positive attitudes toward textured hair than other women, including black women in the national sample.
Millennial naturalistas have more positive attitudes toward textured hair than all other women.
Black women perceive a level of social stigma against textured hair, and this perception is substantiated by white women’s devaluation of natural hairstyles.
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