Breaking barriers: Advocating for equality – France’s call to end discrimination against afros and braids
As he prepares a cross-party initiative to be presented to parliament in the autumn, a legislator from Guadeloupe has argued that France needs to enact legislation prohibiting discrimination against natural afro hairstyles and braids. “This is about allowing everyone to be as they are and as they want to be, whether in the workplace or anywhere else,” Olivier Serva said. Just as the Republic’s motto is liberty, equality, fraternity.
Understanding hair discrimination
Serva, who now sits with a separate centrist opposition group and quit Macron’s centrist party, La République En Marche, stated he was looking for a peaceful “cross-party consensus.” He had addressed every other party in parliament, with the exception of the far-right National Rally, about introducing a law against discrimination based on hair color. Fighting against any form of discrimination linked to hair texture, length, color, and style is the goal of the law.
According to Serva, the case of the Air France flight attendant who was black and sued his employers in an industrial tribunal for discrimination over his braids demonstrated the need for France to strengthen its laws against hair discrimination and raise awareness of the issue in both the workplace and general society. Because Aboubakar Traoré’s hairdo did not follow the guidelines in the male staff flight handbook, he was denied admission to a flight. Traoré was an Air France steward who had altered his haircut to braids worn knotted back in a chignon. Following almost ten years of litigation, the highest appeals court in France ruled in Traoré’s favor in November of last year, holding that the corporation could not forbid male employees from sporting braids as it had given permission for female employees to do so.
The Call for legal protections
According to Serva, Traoré’s protracted court battle demonstrated a legal loophole and the need for legislation that specifically addresses hair prejudice. He said that because of prejudice in the job and in French culture, black women were using chemicals to straighten their hair at the expense of their health. According to him, stereotypes about bald men or women with blond hair as well as discrimination against women and men who wear afro hairstyles or braids would be illegal.
There are no studies on the level of hair discrimination against Black people in France, according to Serva, but he suggested it would be comparable to the US or the UK because the country does not record statistics based on ethnicity. According to a research he mentioned, two-thirds of black women in the US felt compelled to modify their hair for a job interview, according to funding from Dove and LinkedIn.
Cultural significance of afros and braids
French job counselor and TV analyst Joëlle Dago-Serry said,”There is prejudice, of sure. I was seven or eight when my mother straightened my hair for the first time. My generation was heavily persuaded to use harmful hair straightening treatments in order to pass a job interview or advance in our careers. Comments are made regarding natural afro hair, which is perceived as not groomed, understood, or acceptable.
Real-life accounts of persons who possess the necessary training and abilities but are denied employment due to their hair type are behind the term discrimination. To be placed on the legislative agenda, the proposed measure would need to be approved by the head of the French parliament. A measure prohibiting racial discrimination on the basis of hair, especially in relation to hair textures or styles including braids, dreadlocks, and afros, was enacted by the US House of Representatives last year. The Crown Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, was the name of the measure.
Boycott Pairs Olympics 2024
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Challenges and controversies
A proposed law on “capillary discrimination,” which attempts to outlaw discrimination based on hair color and style in the workplace, is scheduled for consideration in the French parliament. Liot MP (Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-mer & Territoires, center) Olivier Serva has proposed a rule that would penalize employers that are found to be discriminating against their staff members based on their hair type, color, or style. France is “behind” in this regard, given that around twenty states in North America have passed various legislation pertaining to the matter.
Conclusion
In conclusion, It guarantees the right to maintain hair in an uncut or untrimmed state and forbids discrimination based on natural hair styles and textures, including locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, and afros. The details of the legislation differ across the states and the communities that have ratified it.
