Perceptions of Professionalism: Black Hair in the Workplace
A Talk by Dr. Tammy White-Jolivette , Dr. Dionne P. Stephens , Allison Whittenberg and Dr. Kimalee Dickerson , JD
About this Talk
Too often, employment and social capital are tethered to our hair’s rank on society’s beauty scale. For millennia, people in positions of power have withheld opportunities from us because they have denigrated our hair and its protective styles. Note that many corporate “dress codes” operate as mechanisms of oppression and are slanted to preserve White spaces. Research shows that too many hiring professionals view our natural hair as unprofessional, which affects both hiring and promotion practices in the workplace. This panel discusses the ways in which we might encourage acceptance for natural hair as a conventional, accepted, ordinary part of professional workplace presentation