French MPs examine bill to tackle hair discrimination
France’s lower house of parliament backed a bill banning discrimination based on hairstyle in the workplace on March 28, Le Monde reported.
Supporters of the bill have said that black women are often subjected to mistreatment due to their hair, often turned down from a job because of it and greeted with inappropriate remarks by colleagues as well as bosses when in the workplace.
Studies have shown that managers in various sectors have asked black employees to straighten their hair as they deem it “inappropriate” and “unprofessional” for a workplace environment.
In February 2023, a survey carried out by the Representative Council of France’s Black Associations found that 9 in 10 black people in the country face discrimination with 31% of respondents saying that they were discriminated against when at work.
The bill was introduced by Olivier Serva, an independent lawmaker who is the representative for Guadeloupe, an overseas French territory where the population is predominantly Afro-Caribbean.
Arguing the need for such a law, Serva commented, “People who don’t fit in Eurocentric standards are facing discrimination, stereotypes and bias,”
He then presented an American study which noted that a quarter of black women said they had not been selected for jobs because of how they wore their hair at the interview.
Daphne Bedinade, a social anthropologist, said, “To make this only about hair discrimination is to mask the problems of people whose hair makes them a target of discrimination, mostly black women.”
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The bill, which was voted in favour of by 44 to 2, will also protect blondes, redheads, and bald people from being discriminated against. The lower house is made up of 577 legislators.
Despite the emphatic support for the draft law in the National Assembly, most MPs did not vote and it still needs to be approved in the Senate (France’s upper house of parliament).
Aude Livoreil-Djampou, a hairdresser of African descent in Paris, hailed the vote as a step in the right direction in the fight against prejudiced attitudes and said that it will further empower black and other ethnic minorities to speak out when they are victims of racist mistreatment by their bosses.
Speaking to the Associated Press (AP), she commented, “It will give strength to people to be able to answer, when asked to straighten their hair, they can say: ‘No, this is not legal, you cannot expect that from me, it has nothing to do with my professional competence.’”
Although the bill attracted enthusiasm among anti-racist activists in France, critics argued that legislation against all forms of discrimination was already present.
Despite the draft law saying it would protect bald people from discrimination, MP Fabien Di Filippo of the centre-right Les Republicains Party joked, “Should we tomorrow expect a bill on discrimination against bald people, whom I think are underrepresented in shampoo ads?”
Across the channel, the United Kingdom’s Equality and Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines against hair discrimination in schools however hair is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act of 2010.
Le Monde/ AP
