Bias Against Black Women With Natural Hair

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for joining Fuqua's was LinkedIn, live series. We're here every week at 12:30. Next week, Professor Cam Harvey will be here discussing The Rush To Gold During The Pandemic.. Now I have to admit that when I was asked to do this LinkedIn sorry, I'm getting some feedback here. There we go.. So when I was asked to do this LinkedIn live session and talk about natural hair bias against Black women. I was a bit hesitant. Just about three months ago, my Fuqua colleagues and I kicked off a week, long LinkedIn series about race. Each of us Rick Larrick, Aaron, Kay Hemant, Kakkar, Angelica, Leigh, Ronnie, Chatterji and Bill Mayew. We each shared the work that we were doing or had recently completed on race, a research that had racial implications.. We did so during the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud, Arbery and Breonna Taylor.. Many of us were both distraught by the happenings in our country, but hopeful about the responses that we saw from individuals from organizations and institutions in the U.S. and around the world who vowed to make changes and help begin to mitigate the effects of longstanding systemic racism. In our country, through dialogue and engagement, acknowledgement, peaceful protest and policy change.. However, since my colleagues and I conducted that week, long series about race, an unarmed Black man, Rayshard Brooks, was shot twice in the back and killed by police in Atlanta Georgia. Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha. Wisconsin and is paralyzed from the waist down. And just last week, video was made available of police in Rochester New York, smothering and killing Daniel Prude, an unarmed and handcuffed Black man suffering from mental illness.. So when thinking about whether I should spend time during LinkedIn talking about my research about natural hair bias, I paused for a minute.. Perhaps my longest pause was related to my thoughts about Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman with a bright future killed in March by police.. Now, the reason why Miss Taylor's death gave me the most pause is because she's, a Black woman and those that killed her still have not been arrested or even charged with her death.. And if I was gon na talk about Black women, perhaps it should be in the vein of the # SayHerName campaign., Which brings awareness to the notion that killings of Black women often go unnoticed and frequently the perpetrators are never charged.. So I paused.. However, I did move past my trepidation, because I had to take the advice that I have given so frequently over the last few months. The advice that I've given to others that we shouldn't frame these discussions as either or., That is, by discussing research on natural hair bias. I don't in any way undermine the importance of focusing on efforts to dismantle systemic racism.. It'S not that we shouldn't discuss systemic racism that we should discuss one or the other. I was using the wrong conjunction.. Instead, we should use the conjunction and., A systemic bias and individual biases.. Many of the systemic processes that are embedded in organizations that some seek to eradicate work in conjunction with individual biases., So to understand what takes place in organizations and in society. We have to understand both in connection with each other, not one or the other. Minda. Harts author of the book called'' The Memo. What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table'' She's quoted as saying ,''. If Black lives matter externally to companies ,'', then those Black lives that work inside of their companies'' have to matter as well, and that means creating'' psychological safety. So all employees can bring the'' pieces of themselves that they choose to bring to work.'' And I'm gon na to go out on a limb here and say that my new faculty colleague, Angelica Leigh, likely agrees with that statement. Given that her work is right in the center of some of those ideas., So about a month ago, we published a paper titled ,'', The Natural Hair Bias in Job Recruitment''. I co-authored this paper with one of my former Doctoral students, Christy Koval. She is the first author on this work. And she's. Now, an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University.. We wanted to understand how women with different hairstyles would be evaluated when they were seeking a job.. Now for many women, the answer to how to style one's hair is just a matter of personal preference.. You know perhaps I'll wear down or maybe I'll wear it in a bun or maybe I'll color it or curl it or maybe today, maybe I'll dye it purple or maybe even pink.. A hairstyle for some is merely a liking, a predilection, a fondness or even a whim., But for Black women it can be wrought with so so much more than preference. Self doubt self acceptance, ridicule, strong identity, insecurity, pride, mainstream conformity, cultural awareness.. Now some may ask `` All of that. Just from a hairstyle, ?'' and we'd say ``, Yes, ,'' and so much much more from a mere hairstyle.. You see, while natural hairstyles on Black women are sometimes celebrated today and it's great to see the celebration of natural hair and probably celebrated today, more so than ever before in our history.. But there can still be a stigma associated with wearing afros and twists and locks. And cornrows. Hairstyles that result when natural hair is groomed and styled., And it's uniquely affiliated with the texture of Black hair. And this stigma is rooted deep in American society and American history dating back to slavery. When a Black woman physical traits, such as her wavy hair. Among other things would partially determine whether she had access to nicer clothes and relatively decent meals and was relieved from some of the field labor that her fellow slaves had to endure.. In present day, we see implicit remnants of those blatant preferences and stigmas. Research published in 2017 by the Perceptions Institute called `` The'Good Hair' Study'', which showed that the majority of participants in their study, regardless of race, exhibited implicit bias against Black women wearing their natural hair.. Now, when we say natural hair, let me explain what we mean.. It is the form in which one's hair grows from one's head, without intervention or as a matter of course, from one's head., So to be clear for most Black women, the hair that grows naturally from their scalp isn't straight and it doesn't fall flat and lay against The scalp and flows easily when the wind blows. It has a curl pattern.. Sometimes it's loose, sometimes it's tight., It's often woolly to the site and soft to the touch and grows outward not downward. And to many. We argue in this paper that this hair and the styles that result from it can be perceived as unprofessional and lead to discrimination, hair discrimination.. We argue that, because Whites have been the dominant social category in Western society, that there is an implicit assumption that the standard professional appearance in many work environments is based on the physical appearance of Whites. And for women, including Black women. That means straight hair.. In fact, in 2016, Leigh Alexander wrote an article for the Guardian about an MBA student who discovered something a bit unsettling. The India student's name was Rosalia. And she discovered that if you, Google, unprofessional hairstyles for work, your search returns mostly images of Black women with natural Hair. And if you, Google, professional hairstyles for work, your search returns mostly images of White women with straight hair. In preparation for this talk today, I did the same just last night to see if this was still so. And in fact it is the same.. The search for professional hairstyles for women yielded terms like medium length, bun up do., Whereas the search for unprofessional hairstyles for women yielded terms like natural hair, Black women and job interview.. We argue that because Black women's natural hair contrasts with the idea the standard of professionalism which is straight hair in the workplace for women, that there may be negative repercussions when it comes to hiring and recruitment.. And that's what we found. Across four studies. In the interest of time, I'll only talk about two of them. Across four studies. We found that when compared to Black women, with straight hair White women, with straight hair and White women with curly hair, that Black women with natural hairstyles were evaluated as the least professional., And they were the least likely to be recommended for a job. Interview.. And probably the most consequential was the potential explanation for this happening.. We found that when Black women were evaluated as the lowest in professionalism, this also caused lower perceptions of competence. Perceptions of their intellect. Perceptions of how smart they were actually decreased., Which then caused them to be perceived as the less suitable job applicant. In study. One. Our goal was to see how generalizable this effect might be.. So we asked our participants to evaluate a group of job applicants based on their Facebook profiles. We used 32 photographs, 16 were White, women and 16 were of Black women. And we varied the color and the length and the style and the cut and consistently Black women Were evaluated the most negatively, the least professional, the least competent and were the least likely to be recommended for a job interview. In study, two ( clears throat. ). Excuse me: we wanted to increase the precision of what we might conclude.. So, instead of using a different woman, we used the same White women and the same Black woman. And instead of asking them to look at their Facebook profile, we use a LinkedIn profile to provide an explicit professional context. Here.. We then digitally manipulated the hairstyles and made sure that all the photos - White straight here - White curly, hair Black straight here, Black natural hair. We viewed as comparable on age, emotional expression, racial prototypicality and physical attractiveness to rule out those things as alternative explanations for our findings.. Again, we found in this controlled experiment that Black women with natural hair, they were evaluated as the least professional. They were the least likely to be interviewed and competence, perceptions of competence, mediated the relationship between professionalism and likelihood to be interviewed.. Our work supports the notion that a bias may exist towards natural hair., That is, hair discrimination is really a thing., So much so that laws have been enacted to prevent it. From occurring. Laws have been passed in seven States to ban discrimination based on hair, actually eight States. In Nebraska. It was passed in the Legislature, but The Governor vetoed it, so it didn't make it into law., And support is increasing for the CROWN Act which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair., A bill unveiled just last year in the Senate December of Last year, in the Senate and in the House of Representatives., Hair discrimination is a thing.. Now this is not limited to the United States or Western countries. In fact, just recently, as in the last few days, protests erupted in South Africa over a controversial TRESemme ad featuring Black hair in Clicks., And, if you don't know Clicks Clicks, is the largest retail pharmacy in South Africa.. It'S one that I frequented during my time. There. The ad showed a Black woman's hair and labeled it as frizzy and dull and another showing blonde hair labeling it as fine and flat and normal. One person wrote and in full disclosure. This is my friend one of my friends who lives in South Africa.. She wrote the following: she says ,'', It's the year 2020'' and I still have to work extra hard, every day'' to tell my daughter that her hair is normal.''. Her hair is strong.''. Her hair is beautiful because she is not portrayed'' as normal in the media. Still.''. Now this makes for heartbreak for a mama.'' # ClicksYouCanDoBetter.''. Hair discrimination is a thing.. Similarly, it's not limited to experiences of just women.. Recently I received the following message and corresponded with an individual who shared his story with me. And I'm using his name with his permission.. He writes Dear Prof. Rosette.. My name is Victor Sayre.. I am 29. I am from France. In the extension of your recent study. I want to add that Black men with natural hairstyles are also perceived as less professional.. Allow me to tell you an antidote. In spring 2018, I was invited to interview for a position in the Paris office of even though he said I could use the name, I'm not comfortable doing so, but it was an office, a very prominent company in Paris., The Paris office leader at that time proposed me a six figure salary.. I declined the offer. One partner required that I adopt in the future a haircut similar to the others. Only White men, consultants in their 40s and 50s. Hair discrimination is a thing.. Now, although I would argue and continue to argue that hair discrimination is a thing, I have to acknowledge that some people disagree., Although I'm not an active Twitter user. A friend of mine told me that I should log on and see the chatter and the tweets that my article that had been covered by CNN had generated. Now, some of which disagreed with Christy and I and others that hair discrimination is a thing.. Now, for the most part, the Black women said ,''. This is something that we've all known'' for a long period of time, nothing new here.'', But they were engaged in conversations with people usually of a different race., And the arguments were quite interesting because there seemed to be this continued notion amongst this back and forth that Black natural hair is unkempt in some way. And, if you know anything about a Black woman's hair, unkempt is not the way in which I would generally describe it.. But in most of these arguments that were primarily taking place amongst U.S. observers is that most of these arguments they were against the idea of our findings, but they actually made our point for us. And implicitly argued that the standard of professionalism is the antithesis that Black Women'S hair in its original state., However, I have to admit my most favorite. Disagreement came not in the form of social media, but in the form of a hand, written letter delivered via Snail Mail.. All identifying information has been removed from this excerpt., But let me share with you what this hand written three page letter said just a portion of it.: Dear Ashleigh, Shelby Rosette, I am 80 years, old. Retired, a business executive and a business owner.. I believe that the prejudices you point to are rampant and encounter every person applying for a job.. For instance, tall men are preferred over short thin over fat.. I personally, I'm 5'7'' and seven eight inches tall and weigh approximately 185 pounds.. I am short and fat.. While I was not always fat, I have never been taller. Styles and styles created in parentheses. They are not natural. Years ago, friends of mine, husband and wife traveled to I'm gon na remove the name of the country just again in case it could be some identifying information traveled to this country., The wife returned with dreadlocks. And in case any of you are Wondering because I oftentimes get this. These here are dreadlocks.. The dreadlocks were a created, stylish statement and very unnatural. He writes. Her family and friends. Let her know how out of place this was for her. And she had essentially made herself a spectacle in the community. In parentheses, spoken respectfully.'', The same principle of conformity over personal choice'' is present in almost every walk of life.'' Decades ago. If you were seeking a job to represent IBM ,'', you wore a suit and you could choose one of two colors ,'' light blue or navy. Blue but blue.'' When anyone male or female, is applying for a job ,''. Their job is to get the job.''. The interview is not the time or place to do'' what you believe to be acceptable. ,'', he says.. You know. I am grateful for the gentleman who resides in the Northeast for the time that he took to hand write that letter.. I am honored because he says that he suffers from trembles and so writing a letter for him that took great deal of effort.. So I'm honored that he thought enough of our findings to write to me and to provide his insight., Because I know that his voice is not likely the only person that thinks this way.. There are some of you that are listening to my voice and you are thinking the exact same thing. And in fact, if I'm being real, honest I'd, have to admit that early on in my career, when I was a CPA for Arthur Andersen, I was likely one Of those people. 22 years ago, I straightened my hair for the last time. And so many will say: ,'' Look just conform, get the job. ,'' worry about the hair stuff'' after you've been there for awhile. You know: ,'' straighten your hair to get the job.''. The problem that I say to this gentlemen is that for many Black women this is just one additional spoke in a very large wheel that continues to tell Black women that they aren't good enough. And many Black women. Simply don't wan na. Take that ride. On that wheel, any more. And to him I will say spoken respectfully. Of course, Conformity should not require one to sacrifice their self esteem or self confidence or cause them to think of themselves as less than and for many Black women. This is the case.. This was the case for another person that reached out to me. And I have the permission to use her name as well. Kimmy Adedayo a 27 year old Black woman who resides in the United Kingdom. And again, I'm sharing this correspondence with her permission and in full Disclosure. She contacted me and we actually talked via phone. We made an appointment, she emailed back and forth and she said ``. I really just want to talk to you.''. I said `` Great, let's do that.'' And I think she expected to learn from me, but I think I learned much more from her.. So I'm paraphrasing the notes that I took from that conversation. Again with her permission.. I'Ve had a love-hate relationship with my hair growing up as the only Black child in my community. From what I saw in school and the media. My natural hairstyle was not pretty., It was not beautiful.. The straight hairstyles were the standard of beauty.. I wanted my hair as close to being White. Looking as possible., I used heat, straighteners, weaves and wigs extensively.. Then I started to educate myself and I realized that I was expecting bias against me because of my hair. And I was trying to mitigate it and control for it. By straightening, my hair. Kimmy wrote her master's thesis about Black women with natural hair., And she hasn't used a straightener in the last three years because of her level of awareness of this bias and the way in which she is feeling about self.. And she did something about it. Done something so much so about it that when she even thinks about putting on a wig now she cringes, because it's just not her anymore., So to be clear, now absolute clear, make sure you understand what I'm saying here., There's absolutely Nothing wrong with Black women straightening their hair. And for some, it's a personal choice, with no long, lasting consequences and frequently it's a choice of convenience in terms of manageability., But for others. However, the consequences are not just the physical appearance of what you see on the outside, but can significantly affect how they feel about themselves. Internally., Aside from the mental consequences that can sometimes ensue, there can be health consequences as well. Hair, breakage, scalp disease and other health complications, because there a research that shows that the lye that Black women use in the relaxers to straighten their hair can actually have some Serious serious health complications., So when a Black woman chooses to straighten her hair, it should be a personal preference, not a burden of conformity., Hair discrimination and perceptions of hair discrimination is a thing. For many job. Recruitment is the first step towards gainful employment and biases and that context can have dire long, lasting consequences. Black women have one of the highest unemployment rates in the workplace. Natural hair bias may be a subtle contributing factor to these types of negative outcomes.. Hair bias is a thing.. Now you say ``. What exactly can I do ?''? What can I do ?''? What can I do to help minimize this type of bias'' and minimize this type of discrimination, ?'', Educate, acknowledge, include and seek. Educate yourself or educate others on the texture of Black hair. Now for Black women? This is gon na be a little bit difficult because we've endured this questioning about our hair for a long period of time.. But if it's from a place of authenticity and a place of genuine interest, just answer the question and try to inform other individuals about the differences in our hair between races. And for those of you who are not Black or not familiar with Black hair. Do a little research., It's amazing! What little Google search can do for you. Number two acknowledge. Acknowledge that natural hair bias exists. And to be clear. We know what conformity norms are.. We know that you know. Sometimes you have to put on a suit whenever you are going to be in certain places, but to actually have to don and change the way in which your hair naturally grows from your head because of pressures to get a job. That just doesn't seem right.. So acknowledge that natural hair bias, exists. Include include policies in your organization that may help to curb the extent of which hair discrimination may play a part in your decision making processes.. This is when we start to look at systems and see where, in our systems in our organizations that hair bias and hair discrimination could creep in. And then, finally, I would say to you: seek. Seek change. Support policies and the Legislatures around the country that seek to Eradicate hair discrimination. Become aware of what the CROWN Act is and encourage your Legislature, wherever you are in the United States, to support these bills. And, if you're, not in the United States, whatever country you're in try to start your own CROWN Act., Because it's so much Easier to combat discrimination when the Legislative policies are in place to help you do so. Hair discrimination is a thing.. Thank you.