Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair
Appearance policies — formal or informal dress codes that set organizational expectations for how employees “should” appear at work (Pratt & Rafaeli, 1997; Society for Human Resource Management, 2016) are typically based on Eurocentric ideals of professionalism (Bell & Nkomo, 2003). Appearan...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change, Ryerson University
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Fashion Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.fashionstudies.ca/let-my-hair-be-me |
| _version_ | 1819132597727395840 |
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| author | Tina Opie |
| author_facet | Tina Opie |
| author_sort | Tina Opie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Appearance policies — formal or informal dress codes that set organizational expectations for how employees “should” appear at work (Pratt & Rafaeli, 1997; Society for Human Resource Management, 2016) are typically based on Eurocentric ideals of professionalism (Bell & Nkomo, 2003). Appearance policies are often enforced by well-intentioned managers striving to foster a professional workforce (Society for Human Resource Management, 2016), yet such policies may conflict with increasing organizational efforts to encourage employee authenticity. The current paper investigates how men, the primary decision-makers in the workplace, evaluate Black women’s Afrocentric hair at work. The paper focuses on Black women because they are often at the bottom of the workplace hierarchy (Catalyst, 2016b) and are confronted with both gender and racial inequities. The paper focuses on hair because it is a visual display of identity (Opie & Phillips, 2015) and fashion (Barnard, 2014) that may reflect how individuals choose to express their authenticity (Opie & Freeman, 2017). Further, hair is subjectively evaluated based on societal notions of professionalism, making Black women’s hair a helpful, intersectional lens through which to investigate the gendered and racialized bounds of workplace appearance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T09:33:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-478948e80ba14369a30495b9c10bcc4d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2371-3453 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T09:33:56Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Centre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change, Ryerson University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fashion Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-478948e80ba14369a30495b9c10bcc4d2022-12-21T18:30:52ZengCentre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change, Ryerson UniversityFashion Studies2371-34532018-06-011112810.38055/FS010111Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s HairTina Opie0Babson CollegeAppearance policies — formal or informal dress codes that set organizational expectations for how employees “should” appear at work (Pratt & Rafaeli, 1997; Society for Human Resource Management, 2016) are typically based on Eurocentric ideals of professionalism (Bell & Nkomo, 2003). Appearance policies are often enforced by well-intentioned managers striving to foster a professional workforce (Society for Human Resource Management, 2016), yet such policies may conflict with increasing organizational efforts to encourage employee authenticity. The current paper investigates how men, the primary decision-makers in the workplace, evaluate Black women’s Afrocentric hair at work. The paper focuses on Black women because they are often at the bottom of the workplace hierarchy (Catalyst, 2016b) and are confronted with both gender and racial inequities. The paper focuses on hair because it is a visual display of identity (Opie & Phillips, 2015) and fashion (Barnard, 2014) that may reflect how individuals choose to express their authenticity (Opie & Freeman, 2017). Further, hair is subjectively evaluated based on societal notions of professionalism, making Black women’s hair a helpful, intersectional lens through which to investigate the gendered and racialized bounds of workplace appearance.https://www.fashionstudies.ca/let-my-hair-be-meblack women's hairappearance policiesdress codesauthenticity |
| spellingShingle | Tina Opie Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair Fashion Studies black women's hair appearance policies dress codes authenticity |
| title | Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair |
| title_full | Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair |
| title_fullStr | Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair |
| title_full_unstemmed | Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair |
| title_short | Let My Hair Be Me: An Investigation of Employee Authenticity and Organizational Appearance Policies Through the Lens of Black Women’s Hair |
| title_sort | let my hair be me an investigation of employee authenticity and organizational appearance policies through the lens of black women s hair |
| topic | black women's hair appearance policies dress codes authenticity |
| url | https://www.fashionstudies.ca/let-my-hair-be-me |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tinaopie letmyhairbemeaninvestigationofemployeeauthenticityandorganizationalappearancepoliciesthroughthelensofblackwomenshair |