Why Hair Isn't Just Hair: A Systemic Approach to Contradict DEI Initiatives and Undermine Title VII

Introduction

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) describes policies that promote the representation and participation of individuals from different ages, abilities and disabilities, cultures, ethnicities, genders, races, religions, and sexual orientations (Arsel et al., 2022) in the work environment. DEI is used in conjunction with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin– better known as immutable characteristics (US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, 2023). According to doctrine, a trait is immutable if it is beyond the power of an individual to change or is crucial to personal identity (Serafin, 2020). Organizations are implementing DEI efforts to bring their institutions to the forefront of their industries because enhancing workplace DEI improves creativity, engagement, and innovation (Maqsoon et al., 2023). However, the disdain for DEI efforts has been increasingly high as Black people, who have been historically marginalized and excluded, begin to take up spaces traditionally reserved for white people, specifically white men. Because of this, some white men feel that DEI policies are unnecessary (Iyer, 2022). Moreover, because of their customarily privileged position, they play an influential role in implementing DEI policies while simultaneously being a threat to them (Dover et al., 2016; Iyer, 2022).

Threats can come in many forms, but for this chapter, the author will focus on the discriminatory definition of professionalism and its imposition on DEI initiatives and the undermining Title VII. Professionalism is not an emerging concept and is enforced by the dominant group in society. In America, the dominant group has historically been white, heteronormative, English-speaking men (Boyd, 2021; 2022) who have defined professionalism through white supremacist ideologies and disguised structural racism in professionalism in the work environment. Structural racism encompasses the history that provides the foundation for white supremacy, incorporates a culture that normalizes and replicates racism, and implements systemic institutions and policies that provide reinforcements and legitimacy to sustain and preserve racism (Scott-Jones & Kamara, 2020; Lawrence & Kelecher, 2004). Therefore, to oppose DEI initiatives and undermine Title VII, employers can enforce specific guidelines about employees’ appearance to enact their discrimination covertly and legally– for example, hair discrimination. Hair discrimination uses structural racism to create racist policies that exclude or force Black people, specifically Black women with afro-textured natural hair and hairstyles, into small descriptive boxes that suppress their Black identity to conform to white supremacy culture in an attempt to create a homogenous work environment. Because hair, although crucial to the culture and identity of Black women (Alexander, 2016; Barrick et al., 2019; Byrd & Tharps, 2001), is not considered an immutable characteristic or protected under Title VII (Tchenga, 2021).