Head scarves and French Schools | Media Policy Project

The last couple of decades in France have been subject to intense conflict over how Muslim women dress. 

The French government has passed a series of laws banning women from wearing first the hijab, then the niqab, burkini, and now the abaya in public spaces, especially schools. All in the name of laïcité -i.e., secularism, which marks the focal point of the French nationalist identity. 

Several studies have been conducted and published to resolve this contentious debate. However, it is still unclear whether the ban on Islamic veils inhibits Muslim girls from having a regular schooling experience or whether this policy encourages their academic and social integration into French culture. This is partly due to the existence of media biases, where both sides of the argument seem to be backed up with conflicting statistics of secondary and high school graduation rates of Muslim women before and after the implementation of the hijab ban. 

The government’s defense for the significant backlash against these ‘Islamophobic’ policies is that Islamic veils are a sign of the “too much externalization” of religious association, which is incompatible with the neutrality required in public schools. Consistent with France’s secularist approach to reinforce national unity. 

Similarly, those for the ban on headscarves present several arguments. For example, before the hijab ban, a ‘silent majority’ of young Muslim girls had to wear the veil because their Muslim parents forced them to do so. As a result, they had to face adversity both in school through social isolation if they wore the scarf ( where the hijab is not a norm) and then at home if they didn’t wear the hijab to school. Following the ban, the tension on one side was relieved, and attending school without wearing the veil was no longer considered a troublesome choice at home (it was feasible to participate in school without incurring social reprobation), resulting in a lower dropout risk.

Their academic performance significantly improved once these students started attending school with reduced peer pressure. Research by Éric Maurin and Nicolás Navarrete Hernandez shows an 8% reduction in high school graduation gaps between Muslim and non-Muslim girls in France after the hijab ban. 

Under the same research, they describe how many girls thought of the veil as misogynistic, seeing their brothers weren’t forced to do so. Along with the finding that the ban vastly increased the chances of mixed marriages in France for a more united yet diverse population. 

On the other hand, a vast proportion of women who wish to live by the rules of Islam have been protesting against the ban. 

After its implementation in 2004, girls were required to go to school unveiled. Failure to do so left them with 4 options – expulsion, continuing at a relatively expensive private school, online learning, or fleeing the country. Hence the increased risk of dropout. Even in successful negotiations with the school staff, the disruptions caused by the ban for many girls resulted in delays in completing their secondary education. Vasiliki Fouka, professor at Stanford. Looking at other long-term consequences in her study, she found that “the veiling law widens the employment gap by more than a third, the labor force participation gap by more than half, and the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims in cohabitation with parents by more than a third.”

Such policies have implications for the broader Muslim population in schools who don’t wear headscarves as well, bringing unwanted attention to the way they dress and adding fuel to the ethnic conflict.

In response to the ban, many French and other international influencers have started the “Don’t touch my hijab movement” on social media. To demand their freedom of expression, whether it is wearing the hijab or taking it off. 

What do you guys think? Do hijab regulations reduce the social adversity Muslim women face as citizens of France? Or do they reinforce the French-Muslim divide and disrupt their education and other aspects of life?