Black women’s hair 2.5x more likely to be seen as ‘unprofessional’, study finds
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Black Women are more likely to fall victim to hair discrimination. The research was commissioned by Dove and LinkedIn as part of their #BlackHairIsProfessional campaign.
“Dove is partnering with business networking platform LinkedIn to help end hair discrimination in the workplace. The move forms part of Dove’s commitment to help pass The CROWN Act in the US to end race-based hair discrimination. The Unilever-owned brand said that while progress has been made with the passage of The CROWN Act in some states across the country, it remains a systemic problem.
A new CROWN 2023 Workplace Research Study, co-commissioned by Dove and LinkedIn, found black women’s hair was 2.5 times more likely to be perceived as unprofessional. The report also revealed that 66% of black women in the US change their hair for a job interview, with 41% changing their hair from curly to straight. The majority of black women surveyed (54%) felt they had to wear their hair straight to a job interview to be successful. Beyond the interview stage, black women with coily or textured hair were two times more likely to experience microaggressions in the workplace than those with straighter hair.”
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Eggleston Bracey added: “The goal of the partnership between Dove and LinkedIn is to help put an end to race-based hair discrimination in the workplace. Dove and LinkedIn have pledged to provide free access to ten LinkedIn Learning courses focused on creating a more equitable and inclusive work environment. The goal, said the companies, is to educate 1 million hiring managers and workplace professionals by the end of 2023. They also aim to spotlight the stories and voices of black female professionals across LinkedIn and social media platforms using the hashtag #BlackHairIsProfessional to help redefine what society deems ‘professional’ at work.”
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