Why ‘the hair conversation’ is still important

Welcome to Lead With Inclusion! This weekly newsletter is a resource for EVERY professional. Whether you’re a manager ready to be a more inclusive leader, or an employee ready to be a DEI champion in your workplace, inclusive actions lead to inclusive outcomes. Leading with inclusion simply means starting with inclusive actions in everything you do. It means identifying the areas where bias is at work, and shifting mindsets to make change.?

If you’re not sure where to begin, start here.

Let’s talk about hair discrimination in the workplace.

I know what you’re thinking. “Stacey, it’s 2023. Are we STILL talking about hair discrimination? Aren’t we past that yet?”

I wish I could say we were. I wish I could say that race-based hair discrimination was a thing of the past. But the truth is: hair discrimination continues to disproportionately affect Black women in the workplace, in all kinds of areas: from hiring, to promotions, to interpersonal conflicts. In fact, hair discrimination is still so prevalent in today’s workplaces that LinkedIn and Dove have partnered together in an effort to raise awareness of these systemic issues (ICYMI: you can take my Diversity Recruiting course for free from now until the end of the year as part of this effort. Click here for more info).?

Here are the facts:

• Over 20% of Black women between the ages of 25-34 have been sent home from work because of their hair.
• Black women with coily/textured hair are 2x as likely to experience microaggressions in the workplace than Black women with straighter hair.
• 25% of Black women believe they have been denied a job interview because of their hair, which is even higher for women under 34.

I recently read a post on social media about this very topic. A Black woman shared that a coworker had recently come up to her and asked the dreaded question: “is your hair real?”

There was a range of emotions in the comments on this post, everything from anger and disappointment, to confusion and disbelief. But they all shared a similar sentiment - how could someone ask a question like that?

In reality, these kinds of microaggressions are directed at Black women all the time in the workplace. And as you might have guessed, these comments often come from people who are not Black, nor women. In the case of the above-mentioned social media post, the comment was made by a white man. Oftentimes, these comments are made under the guise of curiosity, or even compliments. But regardless of the intent, the impact is that Black women end up feeling alienated, passed over, or penalized for their hair.

To make matters worse, if a Black woman chooses to speak up about this mistreatment, there’s so much stigma that comes along with it. She may be written off as an ‘angry Black woman,’ and her opinions may be dismissed solely based on a stereotype. She may then feel the need to police her own emotions and expressions, jumping through hoops to avoid playing into her coworkers’ already existing biases.?

I’m over it. The responsibility should not be put on Black women to speak up about these prevalent issues. Instead, it should be the responsibility of everyone else to put a stop to this discriminatory behavior.

So, what can we do about all of this? Here are my suggestions:

Lead With Inclusion

If you find yourself feeling ‘curious’ about whether a Black woman’s hair is ‘real’ or not, pause for a moment first. Before you make a comment, ask yourself this: “do you ask all your coworkers this question, or only Black women?” If you wouldn’t ask this question to a white coworker, for example, take some time to examine why that is. If you’ve ever participated in any kind of diversity training at work, odds are that you know this kind of question is inappropriate. So, why is it that you feel comfortable asking these questions of Black women, and why might your boundaries be different when it comes to other races??

Oftentimes, women’s opinions may be dismissed unless they offer some sort of a reason or evidence to back it up. And when you add race to the equation, this dynamic is amplified even further. If the data above didn’t convince you, Black women’s lived experiences should be enough. Maybe you don’t need to understand the why right now. At this point? It’s just time to stop.

Be an Inclusive Leader

On an individual level, hair discrimination usually comes into play through language and microaggressions. For organizational leaders? We need to look at patterns and systems. If there are Black women on your team, what narratives are you telling yourself about them? When it comes time to promote someone, what assumptions are you making about experience and readiness? What about conflicts occurring between team members? For example, if a white woman on your team came to you with a complaint about a Black woman teammate, are you conditioned to believe one before the other? It’s time to evaluate your own responses to the people on your team, and find where the gaps may exist. Unsurprisingly, our perceptions of hair have a lot to do with it.

These conversations are challenging, and they call on us to not only recognize bias, but to actively interrupt it. This can sometimes feel like a tremendous amount of pressure to “get it right” the first time. But let’s be honest: no one has all the answers, and mistakes are a part of the learning process. What we need is the space to practice what we’re taught, learn new ideas, develop skills, and test out unfamiliar language. That’s exactly why we created the Rework Workspace. If you missed our last Workspace Workshop in July, it’s not too late to sign up for our next one on August 16. If you’re ready to turn ‘toxic’ into ‘teamwork’, learn more and sign up here .?

About Stacey Gordon:

Stacey Gordon is Executive Advisor and Founder of Rework Work where she and her team coach and counsel executive leaders on DEI strategies for the business, while offering a no-nonsense approach to unconscious bias education for the broader employee population. As a global keynote speaker, Stacey is a Top Voice on LinkedIn and a popular LinkedIn Learning [IN]structor with nearly two million unique learners enjoying her courses.?