To think this rule is unfair

[HopeFaithAndSkulduggery]

At work (big international company) over summer some people were taking the piss with the dress code, wearing skimpy clothes etc. So they updated to dress code so that instead of just saying ‘businesses attire they are spelling it out . No belly buttons or midriffs on show etc

Fine.

My problem is that they say ‘no headscarves apart for religious reasons’. Many African women wear head coverings partly for cultural reasons and partly because Afro hair can be ‘difficult’ and are a necessity to be presentable when it has not been possible to spend a lot o time/money on it or else cut it short.

Aibu to say that banning headwraps is unfair?

It is unfair for the African women, it should be one rule for everyone not for some...the African women can get around it I guess by saying the head wrap/scarf is for cultural AND religious reasons...(the boss/workplace won't know that it isn't, )

I instead would argue a ‘head scarf’ is not a ‘head wrap’. If you can see part of the hair it’s a wrap and not a scarf. Where’s the dividing line between hair grips/fascinators/clips/headbands etc?

In the black women at my church you can usually see the first half to inch of hair on top of their head before the wrap.

Why no headscarves?? how are they inappropriate? Personally I wouldn't see someone wearing one as unprofessional where as i can see belly buttons on display may bot be the image the company wants to present. Is this a case simply of someone not thinking things through?

You could suggest that they update it to "religious/cultural reasons".

Tbh though, I suspect that no woman wearing a headscarf under those circumstances (i.e. professionally dressed with a neat head covering) is likely to be challenged. Presumably they put it in because some folk were turning up in bandanas, shorts and flip flops or something looking as if they were off to the beach. I presume they just want people to stop, as you put it, "taking the piss".

I would certainly be questioning this if I was at this company. I don't really understand why they would ban headscarves. I would perhaps contact HR to query the reasons for this and suggest it could be indirectly discrimination on the grounds of race.

*indirect discrimination

I would hope that the policy would and could be updated for cultural reasons, if anyone asked. Does this affect you and your attire, or are you just commenting on behalf of it being generally unfair?

I don't get why headscarves are inappropriate for work either. Visible belly buttons and midriffs, sure.

I'd ask for a reason.

There is already a ‘no hats’ rule. I’m sure if someone was going through chemo or something they would allow them a headscarf as a ‘special exception’. I think they they worry about men in du rags and bandannas, but don’t want to say ‘only women can have headscarves as that would open a can of worms.