Introduction: The headscarf: A political symbol in comparative and historical perspective

Historical Reflections

Volumn 34, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 1-6

  Wiygul, Elisa ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 77949754454     PISSN: 03157997     EISSN: 19392419     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3167/hrrh2008.340301     Document Type: Editorial

References (9)

1. Commission de Réflexion sur l'Application du Principe de Laïcité dans la République, Rapportau Président de la République (11 December 2003), http://lesrapports. ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/BRP/034000725/0000.pdf. The law also banned other conspicuous religious attire, such as a Sikh turban, but permitted discreet symbols, such as small crucifixes or Jewish stars. All agreed that the Muslim headscarf was the primary target of the law. The Commission also made numerous other recommendations, including some intended to acknowledge France's religious and cultural diversity, like making Yom Kippur and Eid-El-Kebir school holidays. The government did not enact any of these proposals. Ibid., 65-69
2. Projet de Loi Encadrant, en Application du Principe de Laïcité, le Port de Signes ou de Tenues Manifestant une Appartenance Religieuse dans les Écoles, Collèges et Lycées Publics, No.253, Assemblée Nationale, Douzième Législature (2004), http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000417977& dateTexte= [hereinafter Headscarf Law]
3. Leyla Sahin v. Turkey, 2005-XI Eur. Ct. H.R. (Grand Chamber). As this volume went to press, the Turkish Constitutional Court had just overturned an attempt by the Parliament to lift the country's ban on the headscarf among university students. See, e.g., "Turkish court upholds ban on Islamic head scarves in universities," The Associated Press, 5 June 2008, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/05/news/Turkey-Head-Scarves.php
4. Law on the Separation of Church and State of 9 December 1905, Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], 11 December 1905, art. 2, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/texteconsolide/ MCEBW.htm (current version)
5. See Françoise Gaspard and Farhad Khosrokhavar, Le Foulard et la République (Paris, 1995), 178-79
6. John Richard Bowen, Why the French Don't Like Headscarves (Princeton, 2007), 11-12, 14 (quoting an interview with Blandine Kriegel, Chair of the High Council on Integration, October 2003)
7. For more details on the 1989 ruling by the French Council of State that enacted this standard, see Elisa T. Beller, "The Headscarf Affair: The Conseil d'Etat on the Role of Religion and Culture in French Society," Texas International Law Journal 39 (Summer 2004): 582-85, 609-615
8. Contributors to this issue have used the terms "veil" and "headscarf" ("voile" and "foulard" in French) fairly interchangeably. There exists, however, a wide range of veiling practices, ranging from the burqa and niqab, which cover the woman's face and entire body, to the hijab and türban, which cover only the hair. See Nusrat Choudhury, "From the Stasi Commission to the European Court of Human Rights: L'Affaire du Foulard and the Challenge of Protecting the Rights of Muslim Girls," Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 16 (2007): 199, 218-20
9. Martin Asser, "Why Muslim Women Wear the Veil," BBC News, 5 October 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle-east/5411320.stm (describing different veiling practices and providing an accompanying graphic to depict those practices)