A British Airlines employee is accusing the high-end airline of “sexism” after he says he was told to take out his “man bun” and cut his hair.
Sid Ouared says he was told by British Airways management that his trendy hairdo was in violation of company uniform policies, even though women who work for British Airways are allowed to wear long hair pulled up in a bun. When Ouared refused, he was terminated.
Man buns are, no doubt, controversial male hairstyles, but mostly because they generally look ridiculous on everyone aside from Jason Momoa (and even then, it’s questionable), but they are so popular that a company called Blue Crate sells “clip-on” man buns for guys who want to look trendy but don’t want to commit to growing out their hair.
The company did, it appears, try to make accommodations for Ouared, suggesting that he could wear his hair long if he told management that he belonged to any number of religions where having long hair is required.
“They basically said, ‘cut it, put it in a turban like a Sikh, or turn it into dreadlocks like a Rastafarian’,” Ouared said, according to Human Resources news. “I am not any of those things and I can’t believe that they would make me wear my hair like something that I am not.”
And he’s not taking the discrimination sitting down.
“So, because I’m not a female, I wasn’t permitted to have my hair in that style,” he continued. “It was absolute sexism. I was even told by a member of management at BA, ‘your hair is like a girl’s hair.'”
“Thousands of women who work for BA and who worked alongside me had their hair exactly like mine. Yet I’m discriminated against for it.”
