Sreedatri Dhar, Week 2

A HAIR PIECE: PERSPECTIVES ON THE INTERSECTION OF RACE AND GENDER

PAULETTE M. CALDWELL

This article lays the importance of intersectionality and wants the reader to engage in the problems and humiliation faced by women who experience the negative eye of the society. Black women face double discrimination as they suffer the burden of both racism and sexism by the society. Everyone has the right of preference and choice. Hair braiding is a personal choice and no one should have the power to question that. Black women have the tradition of braiding their hair since generations and most of them like to braid their hair as their choice. How is it justifiable to remove or fire a women because of the way they style their hair? Women like Cheryl Tantum and Renee Rogers are the victims of intersectionality and their story needs to be brought out to the society in order to understand the consequences of this inhuman practice. First, being a women, they have often been discriminated in their professional lives as men usually dominate these positions. Second, Black people have always been considered a subordinate race and have been faced by discrimination since decades even in the present times. These women being black have been discriminated on basis of their hairstyle which is a private and a personal matter and yet the judges have upheld their decision of prohibiting women of wearing braids to their work. Wearing braids is a part of their cultural identity. Racism and Sexism are interlocking phenomena that have been construed by the society which needs to be rectified. Understanding the situations dealt by these Black women who constantly face double discrimination can help the society tackle this never ending cycle of ordeal prevalent in our society.