Variations of Public Opinion Towards Face Veiling: Arguments in the Swiss Debate

Abstract

This study focuses on public opinion towards the face veiling of Muslim women and investigates the possibility of identifying different groups of citizens supporting distinct combinations of arguments regarding face veiling criticisms. Two groups are expected to argue for or against face veiling. Also, two other groups are expected to vary depending on their idea of liberalism inherent in face‐veiling arguments: a specific way of life versus respect for different ways of life. Using latent class (regression) analysis, the findings show that different groups emerged and that the political leftists were more diverse regarding argument patterns than the political rightists. Following the debate of why many political leftists have negative attitudes towards religious practices, this study does not find empirical support that anti‐Muslim and anti‐Islam attitudes systematically differ between the observed groups.

Perceptions Reasons and Barriers in Observing Purdah (Hijab) among Female Undergraduate Medical Students

“…The astonishing yet interesting findings were political group which opposed the idea of veiling, religious acceptance of veiling appeared complex however, they agreed that this way of life is best for women, their identity and protection and no threat to others [16]. A Study evaluated social anxiety through a scale among the female students with prior hypothesis but the results did not establish any sort of significance and rejected the hypothesis [17]. These results do not go with the present study as it was conducted among western world and no scale for anxiety was incorporated as well.…”

Rejecting Muslim minority practices

“…Similarly, a study in Switzerland found that 15% of the Swiss strongly agree with any argument against the Muslim practice of wearing a face veil and have negative anti-Muslim and anti-Islam attitudes (Eugster, 2021). Findings of these studies indicate that a minority of the public displays indiscriminately negative attitudes towards Muslims, and that the rejection of practices cannot be completely reduced to prejudicial feelings towards Muslims.…”

“…Further, a recent study in the Netherlands showed that between 17% and 30% of the population feel positive towards Turks and Moroccans and accept their rights, yet sometimes object to the wearing of the headscarf or the founding of Islamic schools . Similarly, a study from Switzerland (Eugster, 2021) found that around 35% of the Swiss population was positive towards Muslims, yet objected to full face veil which was perceived as oppressive and going against self-determination of women.…”

“…Een recente studie uit Australië toonde aan dat sommige Australiërs consistent anti-moslim sentimenten vertonen door negatief te zijn tegenover moslims als een groep mensen, door niet te willen dat hun familielid met een moslim trouwt en door de bouw van een gebedshuis niet te steunen (Dunn et al, 2021 ). In lijn hiermee vond een onderzoek in Zwitserland dat sommige Zwitsers het sterk eens zijn met elk argument tegen de moslimpraktijk van het dragen van een gezichtssluier en een negatieve anti-moslim en antiislamhouding hebben (Eugster, 2021). Hoewel de bevindingen van deze onderzoeken ondersteuning bieden voor een algemeen negatieve houding ten opzichte van moslims, laten ze ook zien dat slechts een minderheid van het publiek een dergelijke houding heeft en dat de afwijzing van praktijken niet volledig kan worden gereduceerd tot vooroordelen jegens moslims.…”