Milwaukee council to consider ban on hairstyle-based discrimination
A measure banning discrimination based on hairstyles associated with “a racial, ethnic or other cultural identity” will go before the Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday.
Those include braids, locs and twists.
“Although some people think of hair as simply just that — hair and fashion trends — the reality is that hair has a cultural significance to many of us,” said Ald. Milele Coggs, one of the measure's co-sponsors.
“And throughout the years, a variety of hairstyles have not only shown cultural or religious significance but also political significance.”
Hairstyles should not be used as a tool of discrimination in the workplace, she said. Milwaukee is not alone in pursuing such legislation.
Coggs referenced a bill from state Rep. LaKeshia Myers, D-Milwaukee, known as CROWN or Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural hair, which aimed to end discrimination based on hairstyles.
The legislation did not make it out of committee. On a national scale, the CROWN Coalition advocates for legislation to ban race-based hair discriminationin employment and education. The council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee this week unanimously recommended the ordinance change for passage by the council.
It adds “protective hairstyle” to the definition of “protected persons” under the city's equal rights chapter.
As it stands, the chapter prohibits discrimination based on an individual's sex, race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, legal source of income, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, victimhood of domestic abuse or sexual assault, military service, HIV status, domestic partnership, genetic identity, homelessness and familial status.
The measure was meant to respond to “what's been happening in a number of workplaces across the country with discrimination against people with certain types of hairstyles, whether they were coming with locs or with braids or other types of creative hairstyles and using that for a basis for discrimination and dismissing them from the workplace,” said Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, the legislation's lead sponsor and chairman of the council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee.