WORLD AFRO Day has launched a new initiative today focused on training to address Afro hair discrimination in the workplace.

The international movement will also include the launch of a global film premiere and online discussion event titled ‘Innovation for Inclusion’, helping to raise awareness and education on this important issue.

Just launched on the World Afro Day’s website, the film is free for anyone to use and is a practical resource for employers, ED&I leads and HR personnel to address hair discrimination now.  

With research from Shift Insight finding that nearly 90 per cent of teachers did not have training on the law and Afro hair and wider research revealing that up to 93 per cent of Black people experience hair discrimination, the need for greater awareness and training is clear.

World Afro Day – Workplace will address these statistics by sharing new research and legal, academic and business expertise.  

This event builds on the positive momentum World Afro Day® has contributed since its inception in 2017, including a speech at the UN in Geneva, publishing new research and its recent contribution to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance to prevent hair discrimination in schools.

This training will also help lead the global charge with the US Crown Act continuing to advance and a French MP due to put forward a bill to end hair discrimination in France later this year.

The subsequent global training event, taking place on World Afro Day®, September 15, will bring together experts from the UK and USA, who will share legal case studies and provide the knowledge and skills required to develop an inclusive workplace with supporting policies.

Guests from the UK include, entrepreneur, Levi Roots; TV Financial Adviser, Emmanuel Asuquo; Barrister, Laith Dilaimi; Senior Partner at Hogan Lovells, Akima Paul Lambert; Shift Insight MD; Jane Powell and Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason. While experts from the US include, Professor D. Wendy Greene, a legal architect of the federal CROWN Act and Professor of ethnic health disparities, Patti O’Brien- Richardson.  

Tackling hair discrimination in business at a global scale, the training event will be hosted by TV Presenter and Property Developer, Scarlette Douglas, along with US Emmy-winning journalist and workplace authenticity advocate, Tashara Parker. Dr Zoe Williams; Olympian, Alice Dearing and Professor Jonathan A.J. Wilson will also share their experiences of challenging Afro hair discrimination in their professional lives.  

Levi Roots, renowned businessman, said:  “This is such an amazing initiative and one I felt we all should support. I just think that having the freedom to express oneself culturally is a basic human right.

“Almost all my life I have worn natural Dreadlocks, but always having to conform, unable to enter shops, restaurants and clubs the way I wanted. Always being told how I should appear, hat or hatless.

“So, I am glad things are changing and natural hair and beauty is being more widely accepted as part of the norm now and people can have the freedom to truly be themselves at last. I am happy to support World Afro Day – Workplace.”  

Paulette Watson, Global Tech Disruptor, said: “I’m 100 per cent in support of World Afro Day – Workplace. As a woman with Locs and a global tech disruptor I’m standing with World Afro Day to normalize afros and natural hair texture and end discrimination towards black women who wish to wear their hair in their natural Locs, Afros and hairstyles.”  

Michelle De Leon, Founder of World Afro Day®, said: “World Afro Day – Workplace is a global disruption to end everyday hair discrimination, which has been part of the business landscape for far too long. 

“Millions of companies don’t understand this issue, yet research shows that many are breaking the law, through this form of discrimination. Recent cases in the news have shown just how serious this can be, whether it’s people losing jobs or kids being abused in children’s homes.

“We want every employee to be able to thrive in their workplace from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet.”