Mel B has joined this year's World Afro Day campaign, to affect change when it comes to hair discrimination in the UK.
The campaign will urge MPs to update the Equality Act in order to make afro hair a protected characteristic. If it is successful, the UK would be the first Western country to introduce law to end afro hair discrimination.
“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," Mel said. "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.
Starring Alexandra Burke, it will explore a woman's murder while all men are under curfew, and who the culprit could be.
“So yes, I’m proud to support World Afro Day in its call for the Equality Act to protect against afro hair discrimination in the UK.”
An open letter, signed by 100 campaigners including Mel, Labour MP Paulette Hamilton, Beverley Knight and Fleur East, warns 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”.
The campaign is set to host a drop-in clinic at Parliament with Hamilton and World Afro Day founder Michelle De Leon with their children, in order to “focus on the change for the next generation”.
“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.
What is World Afro Day?
15th September is World Afro Day, a global day for millions to celebrate the beauty of their afro hair and to feel proud of their naturally kinky, coiled or curly strands.
In 2020, Duke University published findings which showed a bias against Black women with natural hairstyles in job recruitment. This can (and must) be stopped by businesses joining the inclusion movement.
Michelle De Leon, the founder and CEO of World Afro Day, launched the project, which is endorsed by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in 2017. She has been instrumental in changing the conversation around hair texture, enabling teachers and other school leaders to implement policies that will protect Black children from hair discrimination.
In fact, World Afro Day 2022's focus was on the Big Hair Assembly, which called on education leaders and headteachers to finally end discrimination against Afro hair in schools. This came after De Montfort University's Hair Equality Report, which showed that one in six children with Afro hair have experienced hair discrimination in UK schools.
Fast forward to 2023 and the focus was on the workplace and celebrating World Afro Day's 7th anniversary. Hosted by TV Presenter Scarlette Douglas and Emmy award-winning journalist Tashara Parker, last year's event highlighted new employer research, which examines the attitudes of UK and US companies towards Afro hair at work.
But the work didn't stop there. There was also a call for change, asking businesses to urgently learn and understand Afro hair inclusion. In order to do so, World Afro Day CIC teamed up with BUD Leaders to devise a training programme to help companies stop Afro hair discrimination.
Consumers are also be able to check which companies have signed up for action through training and are going beyond just surface optics.
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In a statement in 2020, founder Michelle De Leon said: “2020 has been a global cry from Black people for freedom and equality. Something as natural and normal as our Afro hairstyles have been a struggle for centuries. 95% of people with Afro hair in the UK, want policies that punish our children to be removed from schools. The time for action is now!”
To learn more, donate and take part in the free World Afro Day events – visit worldafroday.com.
