Islamic veil controversy in France
Encyclopedia
The Islamic scarf controversy in France, referred to there as l'affaire du voile (the veil affair), l'affaire du voile islamique (the Islamic veil affair), and l'affaire du foulard (the scarf affair) among other bynames, has arisen since the mid-1990s, especially pertaining to the wearing of the hijab
in French public schools
. The debate raises questions as to:
This article is intended to give a synopsis of this controversy, starting from l'affaire du foulard and the vote on laïcité
(secularity) in France to the present, and the arguments of the different parties involved.
The controversy over the Islamic scarf (hijab
) sparked in October 1989, when three female students were suspended for refusing to remove their scarves in class at Gabriel Havez Middle School in Creil
. In November 1989, the Conseil d'État ruled that the scarf's quasi religious expression was compatible with the laïcité of public schools. That December, minister of education Lionel Jospin
issued a statement declaring that educators had the responsibility of accepting or refusing the wearing of the scarf in classes on a case-by-case basis.
In January 1990, three girls were suspended from Pasteur Middle School in Noyon
, a banlieue
north of Paris
. The parents of one of the girls previously suspended from Gabriel Havez filed a defamation suit against its principal. Following these events, teachers at a middle school in Nantua
held a general strike in protest against the scarf in school. A second government statement reiterated the need to respect the principle of secularity in public schools.
In September 1994, a new memorandum, the "François Bayrou memo" was issued, delineating the difference between "discreet" religious symbols able to be brought into classrooms, and "ostentatious" religious symbols (including the hijab), which were to be forbidden in public establishments. In October of that year, students at St. Exupéry High School in Mantes-la-Jolie
organized a demonstration of protest in favor of the right to wear the veil in classrooms. In November, 24 veiled students were suspended from the same high school as well as from Faidherbe High in Lille
.
Between 1994 and 2003 around 100 female students were suspended or expelled from middle and high schools for wearing the scarf in class. In nearly half of these cases, their exclusions were annulled by the French courts.
This debate has thus contributed in blurring the limits between the left and right on the traditional spectrum in France, and has revealed divergences on new political levels, especially between "republican
s" (proponents of intervention by the secular Republic) and "liberal
s" (in an older sense of the French term referring to those who support the liberties of the individual).
(or scarf) outside the home and among those outside the family circle. The validity of such beliefs is discussed widely in the Muslim world
. The tradition of the veil itself has been in existence since before the advent of Islam. The obligation for Muslim women to cover their heads was made part of Islamic law
during the life of Muhammad
, and this legislation spread via Islam to different areas of the world.
In traditional Muslim societies, an un-covered woman may be construed as trying to seduce others, and therefore unworthy of respect. The importance assigned to this head covering varies, from that of colorful head scarves that conceal almost no hair in sub-Saharan Africa, to the extent that it should cover all hair, and often parts of the face, in the form of a singular piece of cloth (Yemen
). In some regions of the Persian Gulf
, the entire body, including hands, must be covered by the veil (burqa
), as is the case in some areas of Pakistan
.
In certain Muslim societies, this obligation may be partially or even totally lifted, particularly where such an obligation is not legally enforced. In Egypt
and Turkey
, for example, wearing the scarf is actually forbidden in certain professional contexts. In reality, un-veiled Muslim women are a common sight in cities such as Istanbul
, Karachi
, Rabat
, and in Jakarta
, Indonesia
(the largest Muslim country in the world). On the other hand, the obligation is legally enforced in certain countries such as Iran
, and those who violate such laws are legally culpable for their dress. Many societies in the Muslim world take a more relaxed approach to the scarf: for example, it may be worn more often by older women, with the younger women only using the scarf occasionally, reserving the traditional garb for ceremonial use.
, Tunisia
, Morocco, Turkey), is a relatively recent phenomenon that is at its core a general movement toward the traditional values of communities in and from these countries. Movements of this kind are not limited to the Muslim world, and can be observed in many different cultures, including those of the West.
This phenomenon has been coined "the new veiling" by A.E. MacLeod. This model does not always materialize perfectly or uniformly according to orthodox tradition; the veils of French Muslim women tend to be less austere in their use of color and material.
Other perhaps more specifically France-centered arguments were voiced at the time of this controversy in order to justify students' wearing of the scarf in public schools:
There also exists a notable minority of French non-Muslims who have expressed support for the right to wear the veil in public schools.
advocacy groups, wearing the scarf symbolizes a woman's submission to men.
"Les Chiennes de Garde": "It's the symbol of the oppression of women, of a demonization of the body and women's sexuality" (communiqué, 7 March 2005),
"Les Penelopes": "Veiled, they are property of masters who designate them, to others and to the girls themselves, as that which is forbidden." (article published on the website of this association)
la Ligue des Droits de l'Homme: "The LDH recalls its hostility to the veil, a symbol of oppression for many women" (communiqué, 6 January 1997).
This is also expressed by individuals:
Mohamed Kacimi, novelist of Algerian origin: "The veil is an antiquated alienation",
Sylviane Agacinsky, philosopher: "The veil symbolizes submission to male authority"
It is believed that permitting the veil in schools risks opening the door to other practices that exist in the Muslim world, and which pose even more of a handicap for women.
the burka used in Afghanistan
and Pakistan
.
arranged marriage
s that exist, to varying degrees, in many countries of the Muslim world.
female circumcision, practiced by Muslims in 28 countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa
, but also in Egypt
, Oman
, Yemen
, and the UAE.
It is often rejected that forbidding the hijab would limit freedom. Rather, it is argued that the hijab is not a free choice, but a result of social pressures (i.e., if a law does not forbid the practice of wearing the hijab, social pressure may render it obligatory).
Jean-Louis Debré
: "Rare indeed must be the [phenomenon of] young women who spontaneously wear [the veil] spontaneously, outside any pressure from their family or from where they live." (site of the National Assembly)
Alain Madelin
: "Certainly, one can hope that the prohibition of the Islamic veil in school will be dissuasive and that many young women will find in the application of this law a way to escape the social pressure more or less against their will." ("Le Monde", 7 February 2004)
Fadéla Amara, president of the Neither Whores Nor Submissive association: "I would also like to talk about the girls who don't wear the veil and who are threatened by this pressure that is brought on only by these [other] girls who wear the veil. You really have to understand that in a city today, a girl who wears the veil is respectable, and if she doesn't, she isn't."
These arguments are shared by some Islamic feminists
. Thus, Fadela Amara
, the former president of the organisation Ni Putes Ni Soumises
, stated that: "The veil is the visible symbol of the subjugation of women, and therefore has no place in the mixed, secular spaces
of France's public school system
." Another francophone Muslim influential for his work on public welfare, Hedi Mhenni, shares the view of these Islamic feminists and similarly expressed support for Tunisia
's ban on the veil in public workplaces in those terms: "If today we accept the headscarf, tomorrow we'll accept that women's rights to work and vote and receive an education be banned and they'll be seen as just a tool for reproduction and housework."
an article from "l'Humanité"
an interview with Bernard Stasi
in the paper "La Croix".
The position of the French government is that secularism in schools is incompatible with wearing ostentatious religious articles, whatever they be. However, in December 2003, President Chirac extended this policy for all public secondary education establishments, risking fanning the tensions between communities within the multicultural French society. France is home to both the largest Jewish and Muslim minorities in Western Europe.
At the forefront of non-Muslim French who support the right to wear the veil in schools is the feminist collective "Les Blédardes" who see the controversy over the veil as a manifestation of colonialist sentiments. In 2003, they demand: "Give the veiled girls back their status as students - democracy and the State of justice will come out of this more mature, just as they matured through the rehabilitation of the Dreyfus Affair
." Furthermore, some Islamic feminists have expressed offense at double standards implicit in some (non-Muslim) feminist arguments. Thus, when some feminists began defending the headscarf on the grounds of "tradition", Fadela Amara
countered: "It's not tradition, it's archaic! French feminists are totally contradictory. When Algerian women fought against wearing the headscarf in Algeria
, French feminists
supported them. But when it's some young girl in a French suburb
school, they don't. They define liberty and equality
according to what colour your skin is. It's nothing more than neocolonialism
."
A third interpretation of the principle of secularity based on its original formulation recalls that, according to the law, "all are equal to show and express their religious opinions in public as well as in private," and that the French state has the responsibility to guarantee access to free, public education to all Frenchmen.
Another argument is that making it illegal sends a message that hate crimes may be more tolerable.
has advanced a sociological explanation for the controversy over the veil by examining traditional familial structures in France and in the countries of origin of French Muslims.
According to Todd, if Muslims impose the veil on their children it serves to prevent them from meeting and eventually marrying non-Muslims. This preemption of mixed marriage would correspond to endogamous
practices very present in many traditional Muslim societies, where it is acceptable to marry cousins in order to maintain the unity of the clan
. Todd speaks of an "endogamous, community-based family."
The traditional French family would be, on the other hand, exogamous
. Traditionally, young French men sought wives outside their villages. This tradition recalls images of Greco-Roman mythology and folk-tales in which a man travels far and wide to find a wife. Sometimes this is in order to save her (as in the cases of Snow White
and Sleeping Beauty
), and other times it is simply a jaunt for the purposes of kidnapping a woman and stealing her away (Zeus and Europa), but they always live "happily ever after" and have many children.
The veil is seen on a subconscious level as a refusal to marry, as a code which says, "I will never be a part of your family." Its prohibition would mean the suppression of this opposition to mixed marriage, a kind of marriage which is more widespread in France than in most other Western countries. One possible conclusion of this line of thinking would be to prohibit wearing any distinctive signs of religious or ethnic origin for those, particularly women, living in French territory. In multicultural countries where the veil is more widely accepted (UK, USA), the rate of mixed marriages is far lower .
. In their view, the veils of nuns, who were chased out of public French schools following the guerres scolaires
that had a profound effect on French history in the 19th century, would return to schools in another form, on the heads of students. The veil, for these people, would carry negative connotations associated with the Catholic Church in France. This would explain the virulence of the opponents to the veil and the fact that this controversy is specifically French; the veil has encountered more opposition in France than in most other parts of Europe. On the other hand, proponents of the law believe that French Muslims, born in France and enrolled in its schools after this period, would not be apt to see veil in this context, least of all in a manner that would be intentionally provocative toward their teachers and community.
decided that a law should explicitly forbid any visible sign of religious affiliation, in the spirit of secularism. The law, sometimes referred to as "the veil law
", was voted in by the French parliament in March 2004. It forbids the wearing of any "ostentatious" religious articles, including the Islamic veil, the Jewish kippa, and large Christian
crosses. The law permits discreet signs of faith, such as small crosses, Stars of David
, and hands of Fatima
. This parallels laws in Muslim countries such as Indonesia
and Turkey
, which also ban the Islamic veil in their public schools.
Would veiled parents be able to enter their children's schools? Former education minister François Fillon
has stated that the law does not apply whatsoever to the parents of students. The Mediator of the Republic has agreed with this stance. However, in some cities, especially where integration of large numbers of Muslims is an acute problem such as Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis
, veiled parents are frequently denied entry. In May 2005 the mother of a student was denied permission to run a stand at her son's school festival. After much publicity, the interdiction was lifted. On May 14, 2007, the High authority for the struggle against discrimination and for equality
(HALDE) affirmed that veiled parents should be allowed to attend school activities.
While the law forbidding the veil apply to students attending publicly-funded primary schools and high schools, it does not refer to universities. Applicable legislation grants them freedom of expression as long as public order is preserved. However, veiled students are sometimes denied attendance.
As far as patients are concerned, the rule is to respect religious preferences. In particular, Muslim women may choose to be seen by a female physician, rather than a male (although the Qur'an does not forbid it), except in the case of an emergency. In this case, care is administered by the doctor on duty, male or female.
.
The French League for the Protection of Human and Citizen Rights is among the French groups and individuals who do not share the position of exclusion for students who choose to keep their veils.
Outside the Muslim community, mobilization against the law has been weak, as the supporters of the law have been supported by the president, Jacques Chirac, his government, and major French medical associations. Among leftist organizations, the question of the veil is divisive, and has led to vehement debates often rendering mobilization against the veil in schools very minor and varied according to regions, appearing in the form of "collectives". Many political organizations, such as the Revolutionary Communist League
and the Greens
, three teachers' unions (Ferc-CGT, FSU, and Sgen-CFDT), the French PTA, the UNL high school students' union, the French Association of Education and the Future, the Ligue de l'enseignement, the Movement Against Racism and for the Fellowship Among Peoples (MRAP), and various collectives such as the Feminist Collective for Freedom have denounced the law but have not mobilized against it. Almost alone is the small collective "A School for All" which has organized some tens of meetings and assemblies on the issue.
Generally, their principal motivations are on the order of pedagogy
, culture, and their idea of respecting freedom. They claim firstly that the number of incidents is very small and does not justify the intolerance and publicity given to isolated incidents, these being to the detriment of the psychology of adolescents caught up in intercultural conflicts. The necessity to open up to culture, to reflection, and to critique within schools would allow these young women to relativize a choice that would be imposed on them, instead of being torn apart by a culture shock
between two obligations that are absolute, antagonistic, and irreconcilable toward each other.
On the other hand, a number of young women who choose to wear the veil do it as a personal choice independently of any family pressure, sometimes against the trend of other women in their families, and in some cases, after other women in their families have abandoned the practice. It would only appear again when the French obligation presented an impossibility for these young educated Muslims to exercise their own free will. For a long time, many Muslims in France had gone without the veil, in absence of any law which imposed it.
The veil controversy has been used opportunely to promote the expression of a French form of Islam, distinct from the Islam in French Muslim countries of origin. The presence of Muslim Frenchwomen wearing tricolour veils and shouting, "I am French!" in protests in Paris
against the law forbidding the veil is one very timely but symptomatic example of social realities that are becoming more and more visible. A survey conducted by the French polling organization CSA in January 2004 revealed that more than 90% of French Muslims claim to subscribe to culturally French principles such as the importance of the Republic and equal rights among men and women. The figure falls to 68% for respondents who believe in the separation of church and state. In contrast, a majority (50-60%) of those surveyed responded unfavorably to the law of laïcité, and would prefer to see their wife or daughter free to wear the veil.
In 2004, a year after the law was voted in one organization opposed to it, called the "Committee of the 15th of March and Liberty," published a report on the law's effects. The report cites the files of 806 students affected by the law. Of the 806 students, 533 have accepted the law and no longer wear their veils in class. The report also gives an assessment of students who have left the French school system because of this issue. Among them, 67 have pursued their studies abroad. Another 73 of those 806 suspended or expelled from schools over the veil have chosen to take government-run CNED correspondence courses
in order to finish their studies. The number of those who have chosen to study via other, non-government forms of correspondence schools is unknown.
The opening of the 2005 school year passed largely without incident, and opposition to the law seems to have given way to broader public opinion. However, the actual number of those who no longer attend French junior high and high schools over their veils is unknown.
s, niqāb
s and other full-face covering in public. The law was constitutionally cleared so that it will come into force in April 2011. That debate and ban are separate from the above-discussed debate on the hijab in public schools, in that it pertains to full-face veils only but applies to all citizens in public spaces.
Associations opposed to the veil
Associations opposed to religious signs in French public schools
"Integration" of Muslims in other countries
Independent voices
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
in French public schools
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...
. The debate raises questions as to:
- the place reserved for MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
women; - differences between Islamic doctrine and Islamic tradition;
- the conflict between communitarianismCommunitarianismCommunitarianism is an ideology that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. That community may be the family unit, but it can also be understood in a far wider sense of personal interaction, of geographical location, or of shared history.-Terminology:Though the term...
and the French policy of minority assimilationCultural assimilationCultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
; - the frequent confusion of the terms Muslim, ArabArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
, and MaghrebMaghrebThe Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
in in France; - the reality of an Islamist threat to French society and the reality of IslamophobiaIslamophobiaIslamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
; - strict secularity in state institutions.
This article is intended to give a synopsis of this controversy, starting from l'affaire du foulard and the vote on laïcité
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...
(secularity) in France to the present, and the arguments of the different parties involved.
The controversy over the Islamic scarf (hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
) sparked in October 1989, when three female students were suspended for refusing to remove their scarves in class at Gabriel Havez Middle School in Creil
Creil
Creil is a large town in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.-History:Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site, as well as a late Iron Age necropolis, perhaps belonging to a Gaulish fortress or protected camp.The city itself...
. In November 1989, the Conseil d'État ruled that the scarf's quasi religious expression was compatible with the laïcité of public schools. That December, minister of education Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...
issued a statement declaring that educators had the responsibility of accepting or refusing the wearing of the scarf in classes on a case-by-case basis.
In January 1990, three girls were suspended from Pasteur Middle School in Noyon
Noyon
Noyon is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.It lies on the Oise Canal, 100 km north of Paris.-History:...
, a banlieue
Banlieue
In francophone areas, banlieues are the "outskirts" of a city: the zone around a city that is under the city's rule.Banlieues are translated as "suburbs", as these are also residential areas on the outer edge of a city, but the connotations of the term "banlieue" in France can be different from...
north of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The parents of one of the girls previously suspended from Gabriel Havez filed a defamation suit against its principal. Following these events, teachers at a middle school in Nantua
Nantua
Nantua is a commune and subprefecture in the Ain department in eastern France.-History:The town grew up around a Benedictine Monastery founded in 671 by St...
held a general strike in protest against the scarf in school. A second government statement reiterated the need to respect the principle of secularity in public schools.
In September 1994, a new memorandum, the "François Bayrou memo" was issued, delineating the difference between "discreet" religious symbols able to be brought into classrooms, and "ostentatious" religious symbols (including the hijab), which were to be forbidden in public establishments. In October of that year, students at St. Exupéry High School in Mantes-la-Jolie
Mantes-la-Jolie
Mantes-la-Jolie is a commune based in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center. Mantes-la-Jolie is a sub-prefecture department.-History:...
organized a demonstration of protest in favor of the right to wear the veil in classrooms. In November, 24 veiled students were suspended from the same high school as well as from Faidherbe High in Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
.
Between 1994 and 2003 around 100 female students were suspended or expelled from middle and high schools for wearing the scarf in class. In nearly half of these cases, their exclusions were annulled by the French courts.
Political positions
The most debated point is whether or not students have the right to wear the scarf in classes in public establishments such as primary and secondary schools, as well as universities. Meanwhile, the controversy has contributed to discussions of the principle of secularism, which is the foundation of the 1905 law of separation of church and state in France. The two principal positions that have emerged are:- A complete preservation of the "principle of secularism" as an element of freedom. This is the position taken most notably by Jacques ChiracJacques ChiracJacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
as well as by certain leftists such as Jean-Pierre ChevènementJean-Pierre ChevènementJean-Pierre Chevènement is a French politician. He was Minister of Defense from 1988 to 1991 and Minister of the Interior from 1997 to 2000. He was a presidential candidate in 2002 and since 2008 has been a member of the Senate....
. - An abandonment of the principle of secularity for the benefit of total religious freedom, and for the recognition of religious communities. This Anglo-Saxon-based community model is defended most notably by Nicolas SarkozyNicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, as well as some leftists and certain GreensThe Greens (France)The Greens were a Green political party to the centre-left of the political spectrum in France. They had officially been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as René Dumont’s candidacy for the presidency in 1974...
.
This debate has thus contributed in blurring the limits between the left and right on the traditional spectrum in France, and has revealed divergences on new political levels, especially between "republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
s" (proponents of intervention by the secular Republic) and "liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
s" (in an older sense of the French term referring to those who support the liberties of the individual).
Muslim tradition
Some Muslims believe the Quran compels women to wear the hijabHijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
(or scarf) outside the home and among those outside the family circle. The validity of such beliefs is discussed widely in the Muslim world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
. The tradition of the veil itself has been in existence since before the advent of Islam. The obligation for Muslim women to cover their heads was made part of Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
during the life of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, and this legislation spread via Islam to different areas of the world.
In traditional Muslim societies, an un-covered woman may be construed as trying to seduce others, and therefore unworthy of respect. The importance assigned to this head covering varies, from that of colorful head scarves that conceal almost no hair in sub-Saharan Africa, to the extent that it should cover all hair, and often parts of the face, in the form of a singular piece of cloth (Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
). In some regions of the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
, the entire body, including hands, must be covered by the veil (burqa
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
), as is the case in some areas of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
In certain Muslim societies, this obligation may be partially or even totally lifted, particularly where such an obligation is not legally enforced. In Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, for example, wearing the scarf is actually forbidden in certain professional contexts. In reality, un-veiled Muslim women are a common sight in cities such as Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, and in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(the largest Muslim country in the world). On the other hand, the obligation is legally enforced in certain countries such as Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, and those who violate such laws are legally culpable for their dress. Many societies in the Muslim world take a more relaxed approach to the scarf: for example, it may be worn more often by older women, with the younger women only using the scarf occasionally, reserving the traditional garb for ceremonial use.
Motivations of French Muslims who wear the scarf
The wearing of the scarf or hijab in France, and in the main countries of origin of French Muslims (AlgeriaAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, Morocco, Turkey), is a relatively recent phenomenon that is at its core a general movement toward the traditional values of communities in and from these countries. Movements of this kind are not limited to the Muslim world, and can be observed in many different cultures, including those of the West.
This phenomenon has been coined "the new veiling" by A.E. MacLeod. This model does not always materialize perfectly or uniformly according to orthodox tradition; the veils of French Muslim women tend to be less austere in their use of color and material.
Other perhaps more specifically France-centered arguments were voiced at the time of this controversy in order to justify students' wearing of the scarf in public schools:
- "Respectability" and "discretion." News, movies, and music aimed at young men often contain stereotypical "easy girl" characters who are sexually taken at will and who are always un-scarfed. This leads many to entertain the idea that women who show their hair are not respectable and are offered (or are offering themselves) sexually to everyone. More generally, advertising and the media present a standard model of how Western women may be assumed to be. This vision of Western women offered by media may lead French Muslim women to wear the veil to affirm their respectability and, paradoxically, their independence in respect to their families. Some veiled women, while very independent, are using the traditional argument for discretion in order to insist on their right to wear the veil at school.
- Muslim identity in the face of what is considered French bigotry against Muslims. Wearing the scarf is also a way for French Muslim women to guard their identity.
- Avoidance of violence. There are already neighborhoods where unveiled women are not safe and may be targeted for attack, often by Muslim men. Samira Bellil wrote in her autobiography Dans l’enfer des tournantes (“In Gang-Rape Hell”), "there are only two kinds of girls. Good girls stay home, clean the house, take care of their brothers and sisters, and only go out to go to school.... Those who... dare to wear make-up, to go out, to smoke, quickly earn the reputation as “easy” or as “little whores.”"
There also exists a notable minority of French non-Muslims who have expressed support for the right to wear the veil in public schools.
Feminist arguments
According to numerous feminist groups, as well as some human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
advocacy groups, wearing the scarf symbolizes a woman's submission to men.
"Les Chiennes de Garde": "It's the symbol of the oppression of women, of a demonization of the body and women's sexuality" (communiqué, 7 March 2005),
"Les Penelopes": "Veiled, they are property of masters who designate them, to others and to the girls themselves, as that which is forbidden." (article published on the website of this association)
la Ligue des Droits de l'Homme: "The LDH recalls its hostility to the veil, a symbol of oppression for many women" (communiqué, 6 January 1997).
This is also expressed by individuals:
Mohamed Kacimi, novelist of Algerian origin: "The veil is an antiquated alienation",
Sylviane Agacinsky, philosopher: "The veil symbolizes submission to male authority"
It is believed that permitting the veil in schools risks opening the door to other practices that exist in the Muslim world, and which pose even more of a handicap for women.
the burka used in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
s that exist, to varying degrees, in many countries of the Muslim world.
female circumcision, practiced by Muslims in 28 countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, but also in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, and the UAE.
It is often rejected that forbidding the hijab would limit freedom. Rather, it is argued that the hijab is not a free choice, but a result of social pressures (i.e., if a law does not forbid the practice of wearing the hijab, social pressure may render it obligatory).
Jean-Louis Debré
Jean-Louis Debré
Jean-Louis Debré is a conservative French political figure. He was President of the National Assembly of France from 2002 to 2007 and has been President of the Constitutional Council since 2007.-Biography:Debré was born in Toulouse...
: "Rare indeed must be the [phenomenon of] young women who spontaneously wear [the veil] spontaneously, outside any pressure from their family or from where they live." (site of the National Assembly)
Alain Madelin
Alain Madelin
Alain Madelin is a French politician and a former minister of that country.Madelin, a strong supporter of laissez-faire economics, was a candidate in the 2002 French presidential election as the leader of the Démocratie Libérale party, where he scored 3.91% on the first round...
: "Certainly, one can hope that the prohibition of the Islamic veil in school will be dissuasive and that many young women will find in the application of this law a way to escape the social pressure more or less against their will." ("Le Monde", 7 February 2004)
Fadéla Amara, president of the Neither Whores Nor Submissive association: "I would also like to talk about the girls who don't wear the veil and who are threatened by this pressure that is brought on only by these [other] girls who wear the veil. You really have to understand that in a city today, a girl who wears the veil is respectable, and if she doesn't, she isn't."
These arguments are shared by some Islamic feminists
Islamic feminism
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework...
. Thus, Fadela Amara
Fadela Amara
Fadéla Amara, also known as Fatiha Amara is a French feminist and politician, who began her political life as an advocate for women in the impoverished banlieues. She was the Secretary of State for Urban Policies in the conservative Union for a Popular Movement government of French Prime Minister...
, the former president of the organisation Ni Putes Ni Soumises
Ni Putes Ni Soumises
Ni Putes Ni Soumises is a French feminist movement, founded in 2002, which has secured the recognition of the French press and the National Assembly of France. It is generally dependent on public funding...
, stated that: "The veil is the visible symbol of the subjugation of women, and therefore has no place in the mixed, secular spaces
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...
of France's public school system
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...
." Another francophone Muslim influential for his work on public welfare, Hedi Mhenni, shares the view of these Islamic feminists and similarly expressed support for Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
's ban on the veil in public workplaces in those terms: "If today we accept the headscarf, tomorrow we'll accept that women's rights to work and vote and receive an education be banned and they'll be seen as just a tool for reproduction and housework."
Secularism arguments
Certain individuals and associations consider the scarf to be a symbol of belonging to the Muslim community. According to this line of reasoning, women who wear the veil display their religious and community affiliation, which harms the unity and secularism of the French Republic.an article from "l'Humanité"
an interview with Bernard Stasi
Bernard Stasi
Bernard Stasi was a French politician. He is the son of Italo-Mexican immigrants. Stasi served as Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories from 2 April 1973 to 27 February 1974....
in the paper "La Croix".
The position of the French government is that secularism in schools is incompatible with wearing ostentatious religious articles, whatever they be. However, in December 2003, President Chirac extended this policy for all public secondary education establishments, risking fanning the tensions between communities within the multicultural French society. France is home to both the largest Jewish and Muslim minorities in Western Europe.
Educators
A strong majority of French educators opposes the veil in general, and particularly in classes. The arguments put forward are connected to both secularism and feminist arguments, a majority of French educators being women.General public
The majority of French people, according to a survey conducted in the last four months of 2003, responded that they would be in favor of a law forbidding the veil in schools.Motivations of French people who do not oppose the hijab
According to the same surveys, more than 30% (about 10% of the population of France is Muslim) of the French do not want a law forbidding the veil in schools. Many individuals and organizations have been opposed to the idea of a law forbidding the veil since it was first proposed.At the forefront of non-Muslim French who support the right to wear the veil in schools is the feminist collective "Les Blédardes" who see the controversy over the veil as a manifestation of colonialist sentiments. In 2003, they demand: "Give the veiled girls back their status as students - democracy and the State of justice will come out of this more mature, just as they matured through the rehabilitation of the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
." Furthermore, some Islamic feminists have expressed offense at double standards implicit in some (non-Muslim) feminist arguments. Thus, when some feminists began defending the headscarf on the grounds of "tradition", Fadela Amara
Fadela Amara
Fadéla Amara, also known as Fatiha Amara is a French feminist and politician, who began her political life as an advocate for women in the impoverished banlieues. She was the Secretary of State for Urban Policies in the conservative Union for a Popular Movement government of French Prime Minister...
countered: "It's not tradition, it's archaic! French feminists are totally contradictory. When Algerian women fought against wearing the headscarf in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, French feminists
Feminism in France
Feminism in France has its origins in the French Revolution. A few famous figures emerged during the 1871 Paris Commune, including Louise Michel, Russian-born Elisabeth Dmitrieff, Nathalie Lemel, and Renée Vivien .-French Revolution:...
supported them. But when it's some young girl in a French suburb
Banlieue
In francophone areas, banlieues are the "outskirts" of a city: the zone around a city that is under the city's rule.Banlieues are translated as "suburbs", as these are also residential areas on the outer edge of a city, but the connotations of the term "banlieue" in France can be different from...
school, they don't. They define liberty and equality
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "Liberty, equality, fraternity ", is the national motto of France, and is a typical example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it was then only one motto among others and was not institutionalized until the Third...
according to what colour your skin is. It's nothing more than neocolonialism
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
."
A third interpretation of the principle of secularity based on its original formulation recalls that, according to the law, "all are equal to show and express their religious opinions in public as well as in private," and that the French state has the responsibility to guarantee access to free, public education to all Frenchmen.
Another argument is that making it illegal sends a message that hate crimes may be more tolerable.
Role of mentality
Above the previous arguments made by various parties over the law of secularism, the controversy over the veil in France may also be explained by lack of cultural understanding.Endogamy, exogamy
Demographer Emmanuel ToddEmmanuel Todd
Emmanuel Todd is a French historian, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies , in Paris...
has advanced a sociological explanation for the controversy over the veil by examining traditional familial structures in France and in the countries of origin of French Muslims.
According to Todd, if Muslims impose the veil on their children it serves to prevent them from meeting and eventually marrying non-Muslims. This preemption of mixed marriage would correspond to endogamous
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...
practices very present in many traditional Muslim societies, where it is acceptable to marry cousins in order to maintain the unity of the clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
. Todd speaks of an "endogamous, community-based family."
The traditional French family would be, on the other hand, exogamous
Exogamy
Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside of a social group. The social groups define the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. In social studies, exogamy is viewed as a combination of two related aspects:...
. Traditionally, young French men sought wives outside their villages. This tradition recalls images of Greco-Roman mythology and folk-tales in which a man travels far and wide to find a wife. Sometimes this is in order to save her (as in the cases of Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
and Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...
), and other times it is simply a jaunt for the purposes of kidnapping a woman and stealing her away (Zeus and Europa), but they always live "happily ever after" and have many children.
The veil is seen on a subconscious level as a refusal to marry, as a code which says, "I will never be a part of your family." Its prohibition would mean the suppression of this opposition to mixed marriage, a kind of marriage which is more widespread in France than in most other Western countries. One possible conclusion of this line of thinking would be to prohibit wearing any distinctive signs of religious or ethnic origin for those, particularly women, living in French territory. In multicultural countries where the veil is more widely accepted (UK, USA), the rate of mixed marriages is far lower .
Past conflicts between France and the Catholic Church
There is yet another possible interpretation. Veiled Muslim women remind the traditionally anticlericals of French society and politics of the power of the Catholic Church before the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. In their view, the veils of nuns, who were chased out of public French schools following the guerres scolaires
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
that had a profound effect on French history in the 19th century, would return to schools in another form, on the heads of students. The veil, for these people, would carry negative connotations associated with the Catholic Church in France. This would explain the virulence of the opponents to the veil and the fact that this controversy is specifically French; the veil has encountered more opposition in France than in most other parts of Europe. On the other hand, proponents of the law believe that French Muslims, born in France and enrolled in its schools after this period, would not be apt to see veil in this context, least of all in a manner that would be intentionally provocative toward their teachers and community.
Vote
In December 2003, President Jacques ChiracJacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
decided that a law should explicitly forbid any visible sign of religious affiliation, in the spirit of secularism. The law, sometimes referred to as "the veil law
French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools bans wearing conspicuous religious symbols in French public primary and secondary schools...
", was voted in by the French parliament in March 2004. It forbids the wearing of any "ostentatious" religious articles, including the Islamic veil, the Jewish kippa, and large Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
crosses. The law permits discreet signs of faith, such as small crosses, Stars of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
, and hands of Fatima
Hamsa
Hamsa or Khamsa can refer to:*Arabic "five, quintet"** Ḫamsa, a Near Eastern symbol often used as a protective amulet** a commonly used alternative name for the Panj Ganj or Quinary, ie quintet of Nizami's first five great epics*Sanskrit ...
. This parallels laws in Muslim countries such as Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, which also ban the Islamic veil in their public schools.
Education
In many cases, the exact extent of possible application of the law is hard to ascertain, and has led to further complications: for example, is the law applicable to something other than the Islamic veil which covers the hair, such as a bandana, which does not outwardly indicate religious affiliation? Eventually, the case has been settled in court (see below).Would veiled parents be able to enter their children's schools? Former education minister François Fillon
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...
has stated that the law does not apply whatsoever to the parents of students. The Mediator of the Republic has agreed with this stance. However, in some cities, especially where integration of large numbers of Muslims is an acute problem such as Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis
Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis
Montreuil is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is the third most populous suburb of Paris...
, veiled parents are frequently denied entry. In May 2005 the mother of a student was denied permission to run a stand at her son's school festival. After much publicity, the interdiction was lifted. On May 14, 2007, the High authority for the struggle against discrimination and for equality
High authority for the struggle against discrimination and for equality
The High Authority for the Struggle Against Discrimination and for Equality is a French "independent administrative authority" which "has the right to judge all discrimination, direct or indirect, that is prohibited by law or an international agreement to which France is a signatory."HALDE was...
(HALDE) affirmed that veiled parents should be allowed to attend school activities.
While the law forbidding the veil apply to students attending publicly-funded primary schools and high schools, it does not refer to universities. Applicable legislation grants them freedom of expression as long as public order is preserved. However, veiled students are sometimes denied attendance.
Other situations
In public hospitals, employees are expected to respect the principle of secularism. In nursing schools, interviews are an official requirement for entry, and are relevant to the Muslim veil. Applicants may be asked if they are willing to remove their veil either altogether or for the purpose of wearing a disposable nurse's cap, such as those worn in operating rooms.As far as patients are concerned, the rule is to respect religious preferences. In particular, Muslim women may choose to be seen by a female physician, rather than a male (although the Qur'an does not forbid it), except in the case of an emergency. In this case, care is administered by the doctor on duty, male or female.
Jurisprudence
Some court decisions have clarified issues remained open by the law, and its legality. These jurisprudence were issued by the French administrative Supreme Court Conseil d'Etat and by the European Court of Human RightsEuropean Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
.
Wearing items not outwardly indicating religious affiliation
The Conseil d'Etat affirmed on 5 December 2007 that the ban also apply to clothing elements that demonstrate a religious affiliation only because of the behaviour of the student. Wearing either a sikh subturban or a bandana were then denied by the supreme court.Infringement of right to practice a religion and right to education
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) affirmed on 4 December 2008 the legality of the ban. Although the cases dated prior to the 2004 law, the Court rationale was consistent with the law: the ECHR held that the national authorities were obliged to take great care to ensure that (...) the manifestation by pupils of their religious beliefs on school premises did not take on the nature of an ostentatious act that would constitute a source of pressure and exclusion.Controversies over legal prohibition
Throughout the process legislation banning religious head-scarves in France has been met with widely varied reactions.Civil rights issues
Forbidding Muslims to wear the Muslim veil to schools is interpreted as an attempt on the part of the authorities to impose their anti-religious views. This argument has been put forward by different Islamic authorities and organizations, and fuses in part the argument that this law is a form of segregation or discrimination. It has been pointed out that in France, Christianity benefits from multiple advantages (vacations and public holidays for Christian holidays, fish in school lunches on Friday, payment by the government of salaries of teachers working in Catholic schools, etc.)The French League for the Protection of Human and Citizen Rights is among the French groups and individuals who do not share the position of exclusion for students who choose to keep their veils.
Outside the Muslim community, mobilization against the law has been weak, as the supporters of the law have been supported by the president, Jacques Chirac, his government, and major French medical associations. Among leftist organizations, the question of the veil is divisive, and has led to vehement debates often rendering mobilization against the veil in schools very minor and varied according to regions, appearing in the form of "collectives". Many political organizations, such as the Revolutionary Communist League
Revolutionary Communist League (France)
See Revolutionary Communist League for the other Ligue communiste révolutionnaire.The Revolutionary Communist League was a French democratic revolutionary socialist political party. It was the French section of the Fourth International...
and the Greens
The Greens (France)
The Greens were a Green political party to the centre-left of the political spectrum in France. They had officially been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as René Dumont’s candidacy for the presidency in 1974...
, three teachers' unions (Ferc-CGT, FSU, and Sgen-CFDT), the French PTA, the UNL high school students' union, the French Association of Education and the Future, the Ligue de l'enseignement, the Movement Against Racism and for the Fellowship Among Peoples (MRAP), and various collectives such as the Feminist Collective for Freedom have denounced the law but have not mobilized against it. Almost alone is the small collective "A School for All" which has organized some tens of meetings and assemblies on the issue.
Generally, their principal motivations are on the order of pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
, culture, and their idea of respecting freedom. They claim firstly that the number of incidents is very small and does not justify the intolerance and publicity given to isolated incidents, these being to the detriment of the psychology of adolescents caught up in intercultural conflicts. The necessity to open up to culture, to reflection, and to critique within schools would allow these young women to relativize a choice that would be imposed on them, instead of being torn apart by a culture shock
Culture shock
Culture shock is the anxiety, feelings of frustration, alienation and anger that may occur when a person is emplaced in a new culture.One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign country. Culture shock can be described as consisting of one or more distinct phases...
between two obligations that are absolute, antagonistic, and irreconcilable toward each other.
On the other hand, a number of young women who choose to wear the veil do it as a personal choice independently of any family pressure, sometimes against the trend of other women in their families, and in some cases, after other women in their families have abandoned the practice. It would only appear again when the French obligation presented an impossibility for these young educated Muslims to exercise their own free will. For a long time, many Muslims in France had gone without the veil, in absence of any law which imposed it.
Practical consequences
The veil controversy and its legislative consequences have revealed problems associated with the practice of the Islamic faith insofar as religion in French society and institutions (as opposed to the problems of integration of individuals). Partially fueled by the fear of a "communitarization" or "Islamization" of French society, the controversy has also fed off fears in certain sections of the Muslim community in France of "forced assimilation" and a slippery slope that would seek to ban more and more expressions of the Muslim faith. The controversy has also, however, brought the issue of the place of Islam in French society to the forefront of debate.The veil controversy has been used opportunely to promote the expression of a French form of Islam, distinct from the Islam in French Muslim countries of origin. The presence of Muslim Frenchwomen wearing tricolour veils and shouting, "I am French!" in protests in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
against the law forbidding the veil is one very timely but symptomatic example of social realities that are becoming more and more visible. A survey conducted by the French polling organization CSA in January 2004 revealed that more than 90% of French Muslims claim to subscribe to culturally French principles such as the importance of the Republic and equal rights among men and women. The figure falls to 68% for respondents who believe in the separation of church and state. In contrast, a majority (50-60%) of those surveyed responded unfavorably to the law of laïcité, and would prefer to see their wife or daughter free to wear the veil.
In 2004, a year after the law was voted in one organization opposed to it, called the "Committee of the 15th of March and Liberty," published a report on the law's effects. The report cites the files of 806 students affected by the law. Of the 806 students, 533 have accepted the law and no longer wear their veils in class. The report also gives an assessment of students who have left the French school system because of this issue. Among them, 67 have pursued their studies abroad. Another 73 of those 806 suspended or expelled from schools over the veil have chosen to take government-run CNED correspondence courses
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
in order to finish their studies. The number of those who have chosen to study via other, non-government forms of correspondence schools is unknown.
The opening of the 2005 school year passed largely without incident, and opposition to the law seems to have given way to broader public opinion. However, the actual number of those who no longer attend French junior high and high schools over their veils is unknown.
Banning of full face covering in public
In 2010, a public debate arose and France passed a law that bans the wearing of burqaBurqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
s, niqāb
Niqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...
s and other full-face covering in public. The law was constitutionally cleared so that it will come into force in April 2011. That debate and ban are separate from the above-discussed debate on the hijab in public schools, in that it pertains to full-face veils only but applies to all citizens in public spaces.
See also
- French ban on face covering
- French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schoolsFrench law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schoolsThe French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools bans wearing conspicuous religious symbols in French public primary and secondary schools...
- Ni Putes Ni SoumisesNi Putes Ni SoumisesNi Putes Ni Soumises is a French feminist movement, founded in 2002, which has secured the recognition of the French press and the National Assembly of France. It is generally dependent on public funding...
- Islamic dress controversy in Europe
External links
Reflections on laïcité- Islam and laïcité
- Reflections of a French citizen on the application of the law of laïcité
- Press review on the veil in schools, on an atheist website
Associations opposed to the veil
Associations opposed to religious signs in French public schools
- Left
"Integration" of Muslims in other countries
- Islam in the UK
- Advice from the Human Rights Commission in Québec on the Muslim veil in public schools
Independent voices
- Burka Ban in France: The New Fashion in Civil Rights by Ian Buruma