Excluding Muslim Women: From Hijab to Niqab, from School to Public Space

Abstract

Six years after banning pupils from wearing a hijab in public high schools, in July 2010, French deputies passed a law that forbids women from wearing the “integral veil” (or niqab, an outfit hiding the entire face except the eyes) in public spaces. This article examines why such a repressive policy toward Muslim women was unanimously embraced by the conservative majority and some left-wing leaders with so little protest. It aims at underscoring the specific phenomena that, on the basis of a new “orientalism,” contribute in France to institutionalizing a category of people on the basis of race and gender.

Secularism, Assimilation and the Crisis of Multiculturalism

“…Women wearing headscarves are excluded not only from official positions representing neutrality in an explicit sense (such as the office of judge), but also, at least to some extent, from working in representative functions for private organisations (see Alouane 2012). They can even be banned from the streets, as is the case with those who wear a burqa in France, in Belgium and the Netherlands (see also Tissot 2011;Costa-Kostritsky 2012;Amnesty International 2012). Lila Charef, legal officer at the Collectif contre l'Islamophobie, notes that racist attackers of Muslim women regularly refer to the existence of the headscarf law and to the concept of laïcité (Costa-Kostritsky 2012).…”

A living room in the city: the place of public space in the everyday lives of Middle Eastern women in Greater Brisbane

“…In a similar study, Johnson With reference to the reasons discussed above, conducting research focused more on "being Middle Eastern" rather than "being Muslim" or "having Arab ancestors," when talking about and exploring the everyday life of Middle Eastern women, could help cover some gaps in the literature of urban planning. For the purpose of the research presented here, it is necessary to understand the experience of Middle Eastern women from their perspective promoting clear and direct communication of their experience for the purpose of shaping and reshaping research questions and outcomes (Vlahov, Boufford et al 2000, Rishbeth 2001, Selod 2011, Tissot 2011. Therefore, the focus of this research is Middle Eastern women and their understanding and use of urban space, as well as the suitability of current urban/public spaces.…”

“…The factors that deem a public space to be suitable differs from place to place (Lefebvre 1971, Lofland 1973, Lefebvre 1991, Tissot 2011, Parkinson 2012) and brings to mind three questions:…”

“…The relationships could be formed by women who actively use public spaces despite their safety and dangers (Koskela 1997, Koskela 1999, or the relationships could be a result of an unpleasant situation where a minority group doubts their sense of belonging or become excluded from public space for their own safety (Tissot 2011).…”

“…Women's veils or Hijabs, as a religious phenomenon, is in vogue in feminist research as well as political and religious fields due to controversies that have occurred on local and international levels about the legal and religious enforcement of [un]veiling in public spaces of countries like Iran, Turkey, and France (Read and Bartkowski 2000, Secor 2002, Bartkowski and Read 2003, Afshar 2008, Dwyer 2008, Moruzzi 2008, Benhabib 2010, Gokariksel and Secor 2010, Syed and Pio 2010, Ahmed 2011, Tissot 2011, Welborne 2011, Gökarıksel 2012, Hamzeh and Oliver 2012, Hebbani and Wills 2012, Kloek, Peters et al 2013, McGinty 2014, Litchmore and Safdar 2016, Strabac, Aalberg et al 2016 (Mazumdar 2001, Thompson 2003, Mills 2005, Haddad 2006, Afshar 2007, Aitchison, Hopkins et al 2007, Freedman 2007, Dwyer 2008, Schielke 2008, Schroeder 2009, Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2010, Shahram and Joshua 2011, Tissot 2011, Krämer 2013, Lagasi 2013, Mohammad 2013, Johnson and Miles 2014, Foroutan 2015…”