France hijab ban

With the world gathered in Paris, France for the 2024 Olympics, the country has taken the extraordinary step of prohibiting its athletes from wearing the hijab. According to the French sports minister, this is being done to preserve principles of secularism and ensure “absolute neutrality in public services”. This is in line with how France excludes women who chose to wear the hijab from domestic sports competitions, despite the fact that the country is home to one of the largest Muslim-minority populations in Europe. The French government’s interpretation of the concept of secularism, ostensibly about freedom of religion and not interfering with people’s religious choices and views, is apparently all about doing the exact opposite. This means no one is allowed to wear religious clothing and symbols in public institutions and/or if they are a state employee. This highly intolerant and unrecognizable reading of secularism is now being put into practice in full view of the world.

“You are selected for the Olympic Games, organized in your country, but you can’t take part in the opening ceremony because you wear a scarf on your head”. These words describe the predicament of French Muslim sprinter Sounkamba Sylla and the cruel nature of how her and other French Muslim athletes are being excluded and persecuted by their own country. This also affirms the status of Muslim women as one of the few groups that can be openly and officially discriminated against in the West. More importantly, this blatant discrimination is taking place in a part of the world that also portrays itself as the champion of oppressed women the world over. France has claimed that this will be the first ‘Gender Equal Olympics’ and yet it chooses to ban its own women from dressing how they want. In doing so, it is every bit as wrong-headed, intolerant, misogynistic and anti-freedom as anyone else who forces women to dress a certain way. It is important to emphasize that France has decided to subject only its own female athletes to this discriminatory step, sending a clear signal that the hijab and the Muslim women who wear it are simply not welcome in France. Nor is this the first time that France has sent its Muslims this message. In 2004, it banned headscarves in public schools. In 2010, there was a ban on face veils. In 2023, the nation decided it had to go a step further and ban the abaya from schools. And then there is the vocal backing by the government for hateful caricatures and cartoons. All of this comes amidst a growing anti-immigrant and Islamophobia surge throughout Europe as governments take increasingly draconian steps to try to exclude Muslims and keep immigrants out.

However, being the host nation does not mean getting to do whatever one wants as it is the International Olympic Committee that regulates the games particularly when it concerns what athletes can and cannot do. And while athletes will still be allowed to wear the hijab in the Olympic Village, thankfully, the IOC’s inability to stand up for the rights of French female athletes has to be noted. At a time when Muslim women are dying by the thousands due to a genocide driven in part by hatred of Muslims, one would have expected global institutions to show more solidarity with those being persecuted. From the rights to their land to their right to what they want to wear on their land, Muslim women seemingly cannot count on anyone to respect them.