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French lawmakers are considering a bill Thursday that would prohibit discrimination based on the texture, length, color, or style of someone’s hair.
Its authors hope that the ground-breaking move sends a message of support to Black people and others who have encountered discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere because of their hair.
“It’s about time,” remarked Estelle Vallois, a 43-year-old consultant getting her short, coiled hair cut in a Paris salon where hairdressers are trained to manage all varieties of hair, which is unusual in France. “I have a young daughter, who is mixed-race, and I tell myself that she’s going to grow up and it won’t be an issue anymore and I’m really happy about this.”
The proposed bill is comparable to legislation passed in more than 20 states across the United States. Olivier Serva, a French legislator from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, presented the initiative, which, if passed, would become France the world’s first country to acknowledge hair discrimination on a national basis.
The bill would update existing anti-discrimination provisions in the labor and penal codes to clearly prohibit discrimination against people with curly and coiled hair or other hairstyles deemed unprofessional, as well as bald individuals. It does not directly target racial discrimination, despite the fact that this was the bill’s major objective.
“People who don’t fit into Euro-centric standards face discrimination, stereotypes, and bias,” Serva, who is Black, told The Associated Press.
The law has a chance of passing in Thursday’s vote in the National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, because it is supported by members of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and left-wing political groups. However, it has received resistance from conservative and far-right MPs who perceive it as an attempt to bring American ideas about race and racial injustice to France.
In the United States, 24 states have passed a version of the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair and prohibits race-based hair discrimination in employment, housing, schools, and the military. The federal proposal passed the House in 2022, but Senate Republicans stopped it a month later.
Opponents of the French measure argue that France’s legal structure already provides adequate protection to persons who face prejudice because of their natural Afro hair, braids, cornrows, or locs.
The authors of the law differ. One example is a Black French steward who sued Air France after being denied a flight due to his braids and forced to wear a wig with straight hair. Aboubakar Traoré won his case in 2022, following a decade-long legal struggle. However, the court concluded that he was discriminated against not because of his hair, but because he is a man, as his female peers were allowed to wear braids.
France does not collect official race data since it adheres to a universalist vision that does not identify persons by ethnic group, making it difficult to quantify race-based hair discrimination.
Advocates for the initiative think it will address Black French people’s long fight to embrace their natural hair, which is typically stigmatized as coarse and unmanageable.
Aude Livoreil-Djampou, a hairdresser and mother of three mixed-race children, says that while some people dismiss the draft law as trivial, it is about something more serious.
“It’s more than just a hair issue. It will give people the strength to say, ‘No, this is not lawful, you cannot demand that from me, it has nothing to do with my professional skills.'”
Djampou-Livoreil’s salon caters to all types of clients, from those with straight hair to those with tight curls. “It’s quite emotional to see a 40-year-old woman, often in a high position, finally accept her inherent beauty. “And it happens every day,” she explained.
Vallois, a salon customer, hopes that her 5-year-old daughter will grow up in a culture where their hair is not stigmatized.
“When I was younger, I recall lamenting the lack of salons and even hair products (for frizzy hair) — there was a time when, sadly, we had to use products meant for European hair that were not suited to our hair. “I’m glad things are more accessible today, and there has been change,” she remarked.
“There’s no reason to be ashamed of who you are, whether it’s your hair or even the fact that you don’t have any!”
