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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Tobi Thomas

Discriminating against ethnic minority pupils’ hairstyles is now much harder

Afro hairstyle
The commission’s advice to schools is the first step in making sure equality laws apply to hair discrimination. Photograph: Thomas Barwick/Getty Images

At just 15 years old, Ruby Williams found herself at centre of a legal battle that would later prove to be a turning point for how equality laws are enforced across the UK in relation to hair texture.

As a student at the Urswick school in east London, Williams was repeatedly sent home due to her natural afro hair, which the school claimed breached its policy that “afro style hair must be of reasonable size and length”.

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