FRENCH HEADSCARF BANS AIM TO ERASE MUSLIM WOMEN FROM PUBLIC SPACES, GROUP SAYS

Thu 06 March 2025:

A French bill banning headscarves in sports is an attempt to erase Muslim women from public spaces, an organization for Muslim women’s rights told Anadolu.

“In sports but more generally … in all spaces where visibly Muslim women can be seen, there is an attempt to make them disappear,” said Rani Belkhy, founder of Khlass Les Cliches.

Belkhy said that banning headscarves at all levels of sports restricts individual freedom while discouraging already underrepresented young Muslim women from participating.

“It’s no longer just about athletes representing the nation, which was the argument used, right? The idea was that they represent France, so they must be neutral. But now, it’s even affecting amateurs,” she explained.

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Belkhy said that France “ridiculed itself on the international stage” during the 2024 Olympics as the only country that banned Muslim women from wearing headscarves.

“What we have seen since the implementation of this law is that it has essentially been a witch hunt against female students who wish to wear a headscarf,” she said, underlining that they do not see people being excluded for wearing Christian crosses or Jewish yarmulkes (kippahs) either.

“It’s been a series of laws, one after another, each time making Muslim women’s bodies a subject of debate and restriction,” Belkhy said.

Last month, the French Senate backed a bill to extend the ban on religious symbols to all sports competitions in France. It still needs a majority of votes from the lower house to become law.

The proposed legislation also seeks to prohibit collective prayers in publicly funded sports facilities.

In 2022, another attempt to ban religious headwear in sports was rejected by the Senate.

-Source: AA

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