France and the Hijab – unveiling the rise of Islamophobia
Foreign policy analysis by Tala Karkanawi, Staff Writer and John Sakr, Contributor
February 3rd, 2021
France has been facing issues with the religion of Islam for many years now. They have implemented multiple laws and legislations that limits the scope of freedom and liberty for Muslims and freedom of expressing one’s religion within their country.
Marlène Schiappa, a minister delegate in charge of citizenship in the Castex government of President Macron, is known for her agenda of eliminating and separating religion and law within France but has spurred controversy within the Muslim community in France. She was interviewed on the 11th of December 2020, in a French radio called ‘petit déjeuner politique’ and discussed various of topics and controversial issues that includes lockdown, curfews, and ended it up with Muslims and the hijab. She mentioned how the government fears that the perception of the Sharia is above national and republic law. She also discusses how this fear is perceived because of practices they see, such as female circumcision, or virginity certificates. She worries about the fact that obscurantism will spread amongst the French as a result of Muslim expansion in the country.
She mentioned how an amendment was to be made by parliament members Aurore Bergé and Jean-Baptiste Moreau in which the hijab was to be banned for minors in public places, which includes educational institutions and more. She finds it heartbreaking when she sees a minor who wears the headscarf in public. However, the amendment was rejected by Macron’s premier even though multiple senior figures in Macron’s centrist party agreed with the amendment. They believed that this would damage Macron, especially during the sensitive times of the pandemic and his re-election.
It is important to note that freedom to practice and express one’s religious beliefs is a fundamental rule in the French constitution, as it is the first article of the constitution.
France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs. It shall be organized on a decentralized basis.
Statutes shall promote equal access by women and men to elective offices and posts as well as to position of professional and social responsibility.
The French government has highlighted the importance of fighting Islamist separatism and not Islam as a religion itself. However, it is believed from multiple Muslim countries, one of them being Turkey, that what France is doing is a fight on Islam itself.
The ban of headscarves and hijabs in educational institutions was proved by two political scientists who believe that this ban led to a detrimental effect on Muslim girl’s ability to finish and complete their education in high school, as well as their routes in the labor market. The French government has an obsession with controlling what Muslim women should wear and should not wear, completely damaging and wrecking their own necessary fundamental freedoms. This also came into place when they completely banned burkinis in beaches at the end of 2016. However, the ban was overruled because it was considered an attack on liberty. The control of what they can and cannot wear really shows what France’s definition of freedom and liberty is.
Those who created a link made between oppression and the Hijab are the people who obtain high political and governmental roles. The issue led to a worldwide controversy on whether the hijab should be banned for minors because it is correlated with oppression in the westerners’ point of view.
The point of the hijab and what it stands for is often misunderstood by a whole variety of people that tend to place their own judgements on the women who choose to wear it. The hijab is a symbol of modesty to Muslim women. It is a symbol that proves women are beyond what they wear and how they dress. It is a symbol of empowerment and strength.
The reason why some might agree with the amendment that failed is because they believe that by minors wearing the hijab, you are oppressing them. However, the idea of the Hijab being controversial, is by itself controversial. It is a subject that shouldn’t be discussed in the first place. Women have the freedom to choose however they want to dress, and the idea of a governmental institution limiting this liberty, is an oppression by itself. It contradicts the foundation and the fundamental principles of what France believes in which is: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity).