A leftist lawmaker has joined forces with Spice Girls singer Mel B to push for the government to introduce a ban on “afro hair discrimination” in Britain.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new government, which is facing crises on multiple fronts, is being urged by Jamaican heritage Labour MP Paulette Hamilton and singer Mel B to devote time to updating the Equality Act 2010 to make “afro hair” a protected characteristic to criminalise what is claimed to be discrimination over hairstyles, the Guardian reports.
“As Birmingham’s first black MP, and as a mother to four daughters, I know the impact this campaign could have on my local community and on people with afro hair across the UK,” Hamilton said.
Mel B added: “The very first video shoot I did as a Spice Girl for Wannabe, the stylists took one look at my hair and told me it had to be straightened. My big hair didn’t fit the pop star mould. But I stood my ground – backed by my girls – and I sang and danced as me, with my big hair, my brown skin and I was totally proud of who I was.”
The demand from the leftist MP and the millionaire Spice Girls star comes amid a broader campaign from the World Afro Day (WAD) group, which has gathered signatures from over 100 prominent figures, including entertainers and academics to ban supposed discrimination against people with African hairstyles.
The campaign claimed that “omission of hair as a protected characteristic from the law has facilitated everyday discrimination and the normalisation of afro hair as inferior in every sphere of life.”
WAD founder Michelle De Leon remarked: “Laws are actually there to tell people what is right and what is wrong and to protect minority groups from oppression, discrimination and injustice. We simply do not have the right laws in the UK to stop generations of Afro hair discrimination from continuing.”
However, users on social media have questioned this argument, given that hairstyles, if associated with a specific race, are already considered a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.
According to the BBC, this includes Afros, braids, and cornrows. Indeed, in 2011, Britain’s High Court found that a London school’s policy against students wearing cornrows amounted to “racial discrimination” after a challenge was brought forward by an Afro-Caribbean pupil.
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