Ooops, sorry Princess!

There has been an ongoing conflict in France over the wearing of the niqab.  A niqab is essentially a piece of cloth that covers a woman's nose and mouth.  It is worn along with a scarf that covers all the hair, so with both the scarf and the niqab only the woman's eyes are visible.  The scarf was banned in public offices (e.g. among those who represent the French Republic) and in primary and secondary schools.  The niqab was banned everywhere outside the home in France a few years ago.  Many Muslims seem to think the niqab is "too much."  In other words, in their view it is not an Islamic requirement, and the effect is antisocial, so women really shouldn't be wearing it.  Despite this, there is a widespread sense among Muslims that dictating to women what they can and can't wear in public (as long as it's not a matter of public safety or modesty) is a violation of the right to practice their religion.  In Europe the right to practice one's religion is the primary right.  The right to religious expression is not as clearly guaranteed.  It's quite noteworthy that the targets of these bans are Muslim women and that in essence the problem is that in the minds of many policymakers the woman is wearing too many clothes! 

In any case, there is a lot of discrimination against women who wear headscarves, and they are often fired from their jobs or not hired for jobs.  Because of this, many women perceive the choice about whether to wear a headscarf as a decision about whether or not they will be able to get a job.  Mothers accompanying children on class field trips are often sent home and not allowed to accompany the children if they are wearing a headscarf.  Both of these are problematic because these forms of discrimination are against the law in France.

Women in headscarves are also often subjected to threats or assault.  The CCIF that Katy mentioned in her post works to document these incidents and provide free legal counsel and representation for anyone who is threatened or experiences discrimination or assault on the basis of being Muslim.  This is most often women, because a Muslim woman in an headscarf is easy to identify on the streets, but Muslim men also experience this.  Apparently the CCIF is becoming known well enough that in cases of work discrimination often a simple phone call from one of their jurists will be enough to get a person's job reinstated.  Incidents of violence are more difficult, because if they perpetrators aren't identifiable, they can't be prosecuted.

The niqab is in a different category from the headscarf, because the niqab is actually illegal in France.  A woman who goes out in a headscarf is legally within her rights, but a woman who wears a niqab in public isn't.  The issue of the niqab has been a conflictual one recently because the police have recently been arresting and fining women in niqabs.  At times the police have used more force than may be necessary to do this, and it has led to some resentment in the Muslim community here.  Curiously, as one of our students pointed out, there are a lot of women wearing the niqab on the Champs-Élysées, a high end shopping district, with impunity.  We asked one of our culture helpers about this and were told that in summer the police tend to "look the other way" or just be conspicuously absent when there are women wearing niqabs in a wealthy area, because a lot of wealthy and powerful families come from the Gulf states in the summer.  Apparently one of the great potential faux-pas for the French would be to arrest a Saudi princess or a wealthy Qatari heiress who is wearing a niqab.  One can imagine the diplomatic incident that could arise from that.  Instead of risking this, the police are taking their enforcement to the poor neighborhoods where recent immigrants and those who have never found social mobility in the society live.  Understandably, there are many in this society who have responded to this by protest.

Apparently another "trick" used by women who want to wear niqab is to substitute surgical masks for the niqab to avoid being arrested.  If they can explain to the arresting officer that they have a medical condition that requires them to wear a mask, they can get away with the equivalent of the niqab without getting arrested.  One of our culture informants told us that in this situation the police will often demand medical documentation, but there are a few doctors who are willing to falsify such documentation as a matter of their own personal conscience.  In other words, some of those who recognize that prejudiced laws are being used to suppress a particular group may decide that their own conscience demands that they resist an unjust system when it is enforcing unjust and prejudiced laws, and this is their form of resistance.