France introduces plan to ban abaya dresses in schools

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Aug 2023 23:19

The French minister of education said that secularism is not a restriction, but rather a freedom that allows people to form their own opinions and emancipate themselves through education.

Women calling themselves the "Hidjabers" play football in the Luxembourg garden facing the French Senate in Paris on January 26, 2022. (AFP)

French Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Monday that the government will move forward with a ban on abaya dresses in schools this week, citing the country's secular principles.

"Republican schools are built on very strong values and principles, notably secularism… I have decided that the wear of abayas in school will no longer be allowed," he told TF1 television on Sunday.

Attal said that secularism is not a restriction, but rather a freedom that allows people to form their own opinions and emancipate themselves through education.

The minister said he would meet with educational authorities this week to provide them with new guidelines on the wearing of abaya dresses, which are full-body garments worn by some Muslim women.

Islamophobia in France and across the EU has always been a recurring issue. Lately, the matter has been exacerbated, in great part due to the energy crisis and the cost-of-living crisis which many right-wing advocates attribute to migrants as being economic burdens.

In late June, France's top administrative court ruled against a collective of Muslim female soccer players in their case against the French Football Federation (FFF), imposing a ban on the Islamic headscarf, or Hijab, during games.

The court said in a statement that the Council of State (Conseil d'Etat) ruled that "the ban enacted by the FFF is suitable and proportionate," adding that the "sports federations, in charge of proper functioning of the public service whose management is entrusted to them, may impose on their players an obligation of outfit neutrality during competitions."

FIFA, soccer's world governing body, lifted a similar ban on female players wearing the Hijab more than a decade ago.

Moreover, France implemented laws designed to protect its strict form of secularism, known as "laicite", which President Emmanuel Macron said is under threat from Islamism. Thus, a number of Muslim associations and human rights groups consider that those laws have targeted Muslims, chipped away at democratic protections, and left them vulnerable to abuse.