My Hair is Pink Under This Veil

'This book should be read in every household around the UK. It is educational, insightful and most of all honest.' - Nadiya Hussain 'A funny, engaging and moving memoir. Rabina captures nuances and shatters stereotypes.' - Fatima Manji, Channel 4 News 'An inspiring, candid insight into the life of a hijab-wearing Muslim woman in Britain.' - Bella *** '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.' Vivid, astute and full of humour, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil offers a frank appraisal of life in modern Britain as seen through the eyes of a hijab-wearing Muslim woman. Rabina Khan writes with grace about her family's experiences building a new life in 1970s London before turning her attention to exploring the politics of the veil, white privilege and intersectional feminism. And in depicting her battle to build a successful political career against a backdrop of blame, bias and misogyny - including from her own community - Khan is clear-sighted about the struggles facing Muslim women today. Now fully updated with new material on the sexism facing women in politics, 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.

Rabina Khan is one of the most influential politicians in the east London Borough of Tower Hamlets, where she serves as a Liberal Democrat councillor. She is married with three children and is proudly working-class. She came to the UK from Bangladesh aged three when her father started working as a docker in Chatham. She writes regularly for The Independent, The Guardian and the Huffington Post, and has delivered lectures at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Society for Arts for BBC Radio 4. She is a contributor to the BBC Asian Network's Big Debate, Bangladesh newspapers and Channel S. She has appeared on Radio 4, BBC Sunday Morning Live, The Vanessa Feltz Breakfast Show, Drivetime With Eddie Nestor, LBC, The Politics Show and Woman's Hour.