Headscarf controversy: Three points of views of women in France
French media is often holding debates on the Islamic scarf, but women who are actually concerned claim they are not always heard
The first time Léa Tonuog wore the hijab in public, she was not bothered, even though some people could look at her strangely. However, when she decided to start wearing the veil in front of friends and family, things changed.
Léa was born in the Parisian region within a traditionally French family. As her parents are atheists, she grew up not believing in God. But during the adolescence, when she met her current husband, who is a Muslim, Islam began to prosper in her life.
Léa’s husband would tell her about some Islamic practices, like the Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn until dusk for 30 days. Curious, she started asking more and more questions. So he offered her a book about scientific facts related to the Koran.
At first, believing in God was hard. But soon Léa realized that, in her opinion, science and religion are linked. “I looked around and saw the mountains, the sun. All this was not created by accident. So I drew my own conclusions: Islam was the most logical explanation”, she said.
Léa converted to Islam in 2015 and has recently started to wear the hijab. However, in order to “stay out of trouble”, as she says, she decided not to wear it at her internship and at Sorbonne University, where she got her Master’s degree.
Little by little, Léa started wearing the veil on the streets of Paris and at family events. Even though her relatives and friends knew she had converted to Islam years ago, it was hard for them to accept her choice.
“When I met people that know me from before, they can judge me and question me. They say ‘you were better before’ and ‘you do not have to do this”, she says.
A French “obsession” with the headscarf?
Wearing the veil in France can be a delicate choice. Every year, debates pop up in the media, usually following some new polemic. The most recent one happened in October 11, when a mother of a student decided to accompany her son and his school friends on a visit at the regional council of Burgundy-Franche-Comté.
The polemic began when Julien Odoul, president of the party Rassemblement National (RN), demanded the woman to remove the veil “in the name of the secular principles of the Republic”. According to France24, a video showing the politician reaction went viral. Indeed, the polemic turned into a central debate in the French media.
On October 18, the newspaper Libération reported that 85 debates about the veil took place on French television between the 11th and the 17th of that month. They also reported that no woman wearing a headscarf was invited to give a point of view.
In Léa’s opinion, this kind of debate is usually conducted by “people who are not concerned”, such as white men and non-Muslim women. A Muslim female student at Sciences Po Paris, who prefers to remain anonymous, agrees with Léa’s point of view.
The 21 year old student, who is attending a Master’s degree at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), was born in France, but has Sudanese roots. Since her parents came to France, the family lives in the district of Seine-Saint-Denis, in the Northern suburb, where the Muslim community is located in Paris.
According to the student, migrants from Northern Africa have a hard time working in France, even if they have diplomas earned in their countries. Therefore, they get low pay jobs and live in the poorest districts.
“We end up all living between immigrants. That is so interesting because I never used to encounter white French in my neighborhood. I always encountered Arab French or Black French”, she says.
Because she grew up among a Muslim community, women wearing the hijab did not seem like a problem during her childhood. However, when she started her undergraduate studies at Sciences Po, located in the heart of Paris, the young girl realized that her headscarf was not always well seen. Students would ask her all sorts of questions, including whether she wore it by imposition of a male figure, as a father or a brother. Even some teachers seemed not to accept her choice.
A must — not — have at work places?
French law prohibits the use of religious signs in the public function, including Christian crosses, Jewish kippahs, and hijabs. On the other hand, The French Government allows the use of the veil in private companies.
Because of this law, the Sciences Po student had to gave up her dream of attending the School of Public Affairs and working in the French Government in the future. She chose International Affairs instead, hoping to have an opportunity to work in the third sector.
But even if the French law allows the hijab in private companies, employees have the right to ban it for several reasons, including security or sanitary standards. Besides, in April 2011, France became the first country in Europe to ban full-face veils in public areas, like burqas and niqabs.
French laws concerning the veil are often questioned, generating a buzz in social media. During this year’s Paris Fashion Week, the rapper Cardi B wore a full body-covering outfit in front of the Eiffel Tower:
It is unclear if the artist was actually doing a political statement, but her post on Twitter received a lot of comments relating her attitude to the sensitive issue. One person tweeted:
The Sciences Po student believes the debate is getting stronger because Muslims are coming to places they have not been to before, such as universities and companies in central Paris. But this achievement, in her opinion, does not make things easier. That is why she is planning to leave France in the future, as putting the veil aside is not an option.
Opposing points of view
According to the Koran, the headscarf can be adopted when a girl reaches puberty and have her period for the first time, although it is not mandatory. One needs to make a choice without external influences. That was the case of the PSIA future graduate. When the puberty came, she talked to her mother, who told her “she should make her own mind”.
The student only started wearing the hijab after she was sexually harassed by a stranger in the streets of Saudi Arabia.“I was shocked and it changed my understanding of what people see when they look at a girl wearing a hijab”, she says. At the time, the young teenager decided that she wanted to have full control over her own body, so she started wearing the veil as a sign of her faith.
Nawal, an Algerian student in France, who also prefers to remain anonymous, has a different opinion concerning who choses if a girl or a woman should wear a headscarf of not. She believes that a lot of Muslims are forced to use it by male figures.
Nawal took Léa’s reverse path: she was born in a Muslim family and used to practice the five pillars of Islam during her childhood and youth. But she never really believed it. “I have never felt Muslim. I used to practice it because my family does it”, she says.
The 30 year old student was the first in her family to assume atheism. Due to her choice, she preferred to move to France, as Article 2 of the Algerian Constitution says that “Islam is the religion of the State”.
Also according to Nawal, many women do not wear the veil in Algeria. Within her own family, only one of her sisters do. However, not wearing it can be dangerous, as men can insult them on the streets — especially when non-Muslim women prefer to show more skin and dress in westernized ways.
Nawal’s family had a hard time accepting her choice, as well as Léa’s family in France when she converted to Islam. From opposite sides, the two stories have points in common. However, both Léa and the Sciences Po student question the French laws concerning the veil, while Nawal supports the secular values of the French republic.
But at one point the three of them agree: women concerned by the headscarf deserve to be heard.
