MY TAKE

JOBS TO DYE FOR

Lisa LaFlamme covered the passing away of Queen Elizabeth for CityNews. Screengrab from CityNews broadcast.

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada wanted to set the record straight.

“The narrative has been that Lisa’s age, gender or grey hair played into the decision,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I am satisfied that this is not the case and wanted to make sure you heard it from me.”

He was referring to the firing of long-time anchor and respected newswoman Lisa LaFlamme that has kicked off a firestorm of response across the board with people of all gender, race and age voicing their outrage.

Bibic wrote that ending her contract well before time was dictated by market concerns.

He didn’t succeed, as the controversy is showing no signs of dying. No pun intended. One doesn’t know if the damage control worked to any degree. Going by the response in a purely unscientific poll, he didn’t help his case, instead, wading into what is tempting to describe as a “grey area”.

But it’s not, is it? There’s nothing grey about firing a competent person, someone who excels at her job and by all accounts, anchored a very popular show – no mean feat in these times as anyone working in the television industry will tell you.

My first grey hair showed up when I was in my early 30s. At a time when every single woman I knew coloured her hair. My friends, my cousins, even my aunts. The only one who hadn’t, ever, my mother, was no more. And so I was at the mercy of a well-meaning group of women who believed I needed to be made to see just how odd it was that I allowed the grey to spread. They dropped subtle hints. They threatened to sit me down forcibly and colour it for me.

A cousin, older than me by several years, said it was unnatural that I was going grey when she sported a head of lustrous black locks. Until her son decided to go allow his grey to show, too – looking very George Clooney-ish in the process!

With my nephew on my team, I was able to field the pressure somewhat better, though I still wasn’t able to say that I chose not to colour my hair as I saw it as a waste of time, effort and money.

I was too lazy to continue even if I did start, I’d plead. Now that I have “grown” into my grey, the comments have changed. I have actually been asked how I achieved “the look”, as though there was a science to it!

My response? “Oh, it took years of working at it!”

But jokes apart, as years passed and I grew older and (a little) wiser, and I gained a better perspective, I was glad I had held my peace on hair colour and certain other matters. Pointing out that men used to primp and preen once upon a time – the powdered and bewigged heroes of Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances being prime examples – but soon switched to outfits that allowed freedom of movement was as bad as people asking me when I was going to start colouring my hair. Holding forth on why I thought it was patently silly for women to trip over trailing gowns while navigating the red carpet in stilettoes while male actors were all in sensible suits and shoes overlooked the fact that personal appearance is a personal choice.

And so, coming back to Lisa LaFlamme. Marketing campaigns swung into high gear with Wendy’s and Dove promoting their new grey look. Someone must have believed it was a good idea, a sign of solidarity, but I’m sorry, it just smacked of, if not plain opportunism, then at best, tokenism.

Others tried to bring about real change. Miles MacMillan’s petition on change.org to reinstate her quickly gained traction and crossed 200,000. Whether that results in achieving its objective or not, I would like to believe that someone of her calibre would like to be remembered for something more than the brouhaha over her hair.

Renowned actors Waheeda Rehman and Vyjayanthimala ruled the Hindi movie industry at the peaks of their careers. Rehman, 84, has silvery grey hair. Vyjayanthimala, 86, has glossy black.

Their hair, their choice of hair colour.

Women run multinational corporations and governments. Surely we can be trusted to pick the colour of our hair?