Ghanaian narrates how she was ‘forced’ to defer her course because she had dreadlocks

Persons wearing dreadlocks have been tagged with several perceptions. From being dirty to weed smoking amongst other negatives.

A Ghanaian lady, named Dela Sikazi has narrated how she had to defer her course because of her locks.

Narrating her ordeal when she appeared on Metro TV’s Inside pages and monitored by GhanaWeb, the activist-scholar said her dream of being a lawyer was squashed after her boss told her that her hairstyle was inappropriate to bid a contract.

According to her, she was depressed after she felt discriminated against.

The issue worsened when she shared her story on social media and it was met with public backlash.

The incident that happened 4 years ago made her defer her course and on the other hand, motivated her to travel abroad to study hair.

She said, “My whole life, I had prepared to go to law school and so I did political science as a first degree, and luckily I got into law school in Legon. Unfortunately for me, I had an incident where...I did a twist out that day to bid for a contract and my boss was like my hair wasn’t appropriate for the conference. That was the very first time I was facing discrimination head-on.”

“It shocked me because I didn’t think my hair wasn’t inappropriate. To me, my hair looked nice because I had spent the whole night styling it so all of a sudden, I felt something wasn’t right. I was depressed because something that added salt to injury was when I shared my experience on social media, the reaction was different from what we are seeing today.”

“Many Ghanaians said my boss was right, my hair was not appropriate for the corporate environment. According to them, it would have been okay if it was for the beach… so I actually decided to defer my course and then I went to America purely to study hair,” she told host Francisca Kakra Forson.

She gave this account on the back of news reports that some Rastafarian students were denied admission into Achimota School.