Officials from France’s National Rally (RN) announced that they would introduce a ban on headscarves in public spaces if they win next year’s presidential election. The party plans to impose fines on those who violate the ban and implement the measure through a referendum.
The debate over headscarves in France has continued since the 1980s through the application of secularism in public institutions and education. Although French civil servants are prohibited from wearing religious symbols while on duty, the wearing of headscarves by students in public schools also became a national issue during the same period.
The Creil affair became a turning point in the debate
In October 1989, three middle-school students were expelled for refusing to remove their headscarves in class. The incident later became known as the “Creil headscarf affair.”
On November 27, 1989, France’s Council of State ruled that students’ wearing of symbols indicating their religious affiliation was not contrary to secularism. Under the ruling, students could be expelled from school because of their conduct, not their clothing.
A law that entered into force on March 15, 2004, banned students from wearing headscarves in public primary and secondary schools in France. Face veils were completely banned in public spaces in 2010, and those who violated the ban became subject to a fine of 150 euros.
The ban spread to different areas
In 2012, a circular was issued banning mothers accompanying school trips from wearing headscarves. In 2013, the Council of State ruled in favor of mothers wearing headscarves, paving the way for the circular to be withdrawn.
France imposed a headscarf ban on its own athlete delegation during the 2024 Olympic Games. The issue has recently returned to the agenda after far-right circles proposed extending the ban to all public spaces.
The media’s approach became a subject of debate
French editor Thomas Deltombe examined this process in his book “Imaginary Islam: The Media Construction of Islamophobia in France, 1975–2005,” which analyzes how Islam was portrayed in the French media between the 1970s and the 2000s.
Deltombe said that Islam received limited coverage in the French media from Algeria’s independence in 1962 until the 1970s, after which workers arriving from Muslim countries and their lifestyles became subjects of news coverage.
Deltombe said that in the 1980s, the French media began addressing Muslims more through their religious identities than their other identities, describing this approach as the “Islamization of perspectives.” In his view, journalists, media executives and politicians used language that reduced Muslims solely to their religious identities.
Deltombe said the Creil affair in 1989 turned into a nationwide debate lasting for months and initiated a long-running discussion about the wearing of Muslim religious symbols in the French public sphere. He assessed that competition among private television channels and the rise of the far right also influenced the climate of debate during this period.
The French editor argued that a circular banning religious symbols in public schools was issued in 1994 and that, although the circular did not explicitly mention headscarves, it served this purpose. Deltombe said the 2004 law made the ban on headscarves in public schools permanent and changed the understanding of secularism.
