- By Hugh Schofield, Khadidiatou Cissé and Kaine Pieri
- BBC News in Paris and London
1 hour ago
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Polls show four out of five French people support banning girls from wearing abayas to school
Why shouldn’t a young girl be able to express her religious beliefs while pursuing an education?
It’s a difficult question, but the French believe they have an answer.
This is largely because there is such a thing as a French nation and the teenager is part of it. Nothing defines France and distinguishes it from its neighbors as clearly as the question of laïcité or secularism.
While outsiders watched the ban on the traditional Muslim abaya robe in schools this week with a mix of astonishment and outrage, polls show the French themselves approved the measure by an overwhelming 81%.
What was seen by many in the outside world – as well as by French Muslim women – as a blatant violation of human freedom, was seen in France as a means to another sacred republican triptych: equality.
And tempered by a bit of the third value – brotherhood, or rather sisterhood – they couldn’t understand why this should be a problem.
Image source: LOIC VENANCE/AFP
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Many French Muslim women argue that the abaya is more cultural or traditional than religious
In fact, the abaya is just a new iteration of a debate that goes back more than 30 years.
The first known case of Muslim girls being denied entry to school because of their clothing – head coverings – occurred in 1989 in the town of Creil, near Paris.
Since then, France has had a 2004 law banning “conspicuous” displays of religious affiliation in schools; the 2010 law banning full-face veiling in public places; and the controversy over burkinis in 2016, which was ultimately not banned.
Recently there has been increasing controversy in sport over Islamic headscarves.
This latest controversy was sparked by government figures showing a sharp increase in so-called “violations of secularity” in schools in the last school year.
Only 617 incidents were documented in 2021-22. That has grown to 1,984.
The vast majority were Muslim teenage girls wearing the abaya.
Pronounced “ah-bye-ah,” it is a long-sleeved, loose-fitting garment usually worn by women over other clothing in parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Its voluminous shape covers the entire body, except for the head, neck and feet.
Image source: DENIS CHARLET/AFP
More than 80 years ago it was thought to have come from Iraq or Syria, but then reached the Arab Gulf states, North Africa and some sub-Saharan countries.
Traditionally black, it is becoming increasingly popular and is now available in a variety of colors, shades and styles.
For many Muslim women, it has become as much a symbol of fashion as tradition and identity. Luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana launched an abaya collection in the Middle East in 2016.
In France, the government believes that the appearance of abayas in greater numbers in schools are not just random stories of teenagers rediscovering interest in their cultural heritage.
She sees them as conscious attempts – to varying degrees as organized attempts – to challenge the system and see how far laïcité can be pushed back.
The 2004 law banned “conspicuous” signs of religion – and that clearly included Islamic headscarves, which have now disappeared from French schools. But were long dresses in Islamic style also included?
School leaders clamored for advice from the government because they saw the fad becoming a trend promoted by social media influencers and, according to some, religious groups linked to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Former Education Minister Pap Ndiaye refused to take a stand – which his critics said was due to his background in US science and its “woke” value system. His successor since July, Gabriel Attal, a young ally of President Emmanuel Macron, had no such concerns.
It was he who ordered the abaya ban shortly before the start of this term.
Image source: CAROLINE BLUMBERG/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
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Education Minister Gabriel Attal, who introduced the ban, visited a school with President Macron this week
For many French Muslims, the regulation is an affront because they feel that their religion is being given priority without exception.
“If little girls can walk around in shorts, leggings and dresses, then they should also have the right to wear abayas,” complains Chaimae, a Muslim of North African descent who left France because of the disrespect she felt.
Sokhna Maimouna Sow, a Muslim woman of Senegalese origin who came to France 11 years ago to study, believes the ban is nonsense: “They say this is a country of freedom, but you are not allowed to do things that are part of yourself. “Culture and Religion.”
Lina, a 21-year-old Parisian, sees the abaya as cultural and has nothing to do with Islam: “France introduces a new law every year when it comes to Muslims.”
Doura, a French Muslim with an Egyptian background, agrees: “It’s just a long dress like any other dress, so why ban it in schools? I don’t wear abayas, but I’m sad that France has reached this point.”
Such views are supported by a small but important part of the political spectrum: the radical left.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise (Indomitable France) party has strongly condemned the ban, accusing the government of being “obsessed” with Muslims and leaning to the right.
Image source: Ameer Alhalbi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Staff at this high school in a Paris suburb organized a rally against the abaya ban
But the rest of the political establishment has sided with the government, reflecting broad public support.
Even the left-wing teachers’ unions are largely in favor, limiting their attacks to claims that the abaya “hides the real problems” due to a lack of schools, etc.
“The abaya should be banned in schools,” a non-Muslim teacher named Manon told the BBC. “Because when you come to class, you shouldn’t be able to tell religion from anyone.”
The truth is that most French people, including of course many Muslims, sincerely believe in the principle of keeping religion out of schools.
When President Macron says it should be impossible to look at a student and know his or her religious beliefs, they agree.
When he argues that strict adherence to this regulation will actually guarantee individual freedom in the long term and prevent a united France from dividing into countless “communities,” they believe him too.
And when feminists say that the abaya may not technically be a religious garment, but its body-covering form was determined by the traditionalism of Islam, most people in France agree.
A week after the ban went into effect, resistance was light.
There were some acts of resistance – 67 girls refused to take off their abaya on the first day of the new semester.
But there is no sign of a mass movement of resistance. No mass donning of abayas, no sit-ins.
Once again, France shows how different it is from other places.
France’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, rejected a request to lift the ban on the grounds that it was based on French law and did not cause “serious or manifestly unlawful harm.”
Outsiders may raise their hands in dismay at the abaya ban, but the French, by and large, do not.