Hair At The Podium
We used to attend conferences and workshops before COVID-19. Someone introduced us and we walked confidently to the stage to do our business presentation.
Then the audience lost interest. They started checking their phones although there are signs that say SWITCH OFF PHONES. We felt it on stage and shifted the blame. ‘It’s because I’m A Woman.’
HAIR IS A DISTRACTION
It’s not because you’re wearing a dress or a skirt. It is because you devalued yourself as an authority in computer science, business or whatever your speciality is. How?
The hair. Removing your hair from your eyes every minute gives the message that being a woman is more important than the reason why you are on stage, sharing knowledge with your peers.
It is distracting. It gives the impression that maybe you are not that brilliant, because if you were, you would have known that you’ll be on stage, and would have controlled your hair, so that it doesn’t remind the audience that you’re a woman. You could have tied or styled it in a way that doesn’t block your vision.
Women are always on the comparison thread mill. Society compares them to men. It should not be like that. That is why some women have more pants than dresses, because of the work environment.
The woman at the podium, who keeps brushing off hair from her face with her hand will wrongly come to the conclusion that she is not accorded the same attention like the previous male speaker, because of gender.
It might not. It might be the hair. Male speakers do not have the hair liability. Nothing distracts the audience. They can be bald, have hair in braids, ponytails or shave on the sides and a little tower in the middle, but they don’t touch their heads.
Women speakers have a choice. They can tie their hair and concentrate on their presentation, or touch it every minute to stress that being a woman with long hair defines who they are, and not knowledge.
BLACK EXECUTIVES AND SELF HATE
Black women also brush hair off their face in the boardroom or when making presentations at the podium. Most of the time it’s fake hair, wigs and weaves. Nature gave black women very unique hair which is unlike European or Asian hair. Most of them hate it. That is why they supplement with wigs and weaves.
It’s their prerogative but, a black executive who loses her audience because she keeps moving ‘hair’ which is a wig, away from her eyes, cannot claim racism.
It is about priorities, and her priority is acceptance as a woman, who can toss her hair like white women.
This is another ‘written podcast’ by Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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