My Hair is Pink Under This Veil

In 1977, one of the girls at my infant school in Kent asked me if I was a golliwog. I said I wasn’t sure. In 2015, when I ran to be mayor in Tower Hamlets, a smartly dressed middle-class man saw me wearing a headscarf and asked me what colour my hair was underneath it. I gave him a big smile. ‘Pink,’ I replied. Did I win his vote? I rather doubt it.

Engaging and sharply observed, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil gives a candid insight into the life of a hijab-wearing Muslim woman in modern Britain.

Writing with grace and humour about her family’s experiences building a new life in Britain in the 1970s, Rabina Khan then turns her gaze outwards to explore the politics of the veil, white privilege and intersectional feminism, before charting her battle to build a successful political career against a backdrop of blame, bias and misogyny - including from her own community.

Clear-sighted and often deeply affecting about the struggles facing Muslim women, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil is at its heart an inspiring story about the power of self-belief and determination to create a fairer world.