Women, Islam and rights in Europe: beyond a universalist/culturalist dichotomy
Women, Islam and rights in Europe: beyond a universalist/culturalist dichotomy
In 2004 the French National Assembly and Senate passed legislation which makes it illegal for Muslim women to wear headscarves (the hijab) within French public schools. To be precise the legislation refers to the banning of ostentatious religious symbols within the secular domain of the public school system, but is clearly aimed primarily at Muslim women, following a long-running dispute over this issue. Similar debates are taking place in other European countries such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. A bill modelled on the recent French legislation has been tabled in the Belgian senate, whilst various court cases have been brought in other European countries by Muslim women who have been banned from wearing headscarves by employers or schools. Following a ruling of the German Supreme Court that a Muslim teacher should be allowed to wear a headscarf, as this did not contravene current legislation, the state of Baden-Wuerttenberg acted to introduce legislation to ban headscarves, and this legislation is likely to be copied by six other German states
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Freedman, Jane
87712506-bcba-4595-b1ad-b5f911ff095c
January 2007
Freedman, Jane
87712506-bcba-4595-b1ad-b5f911ff095c
Freedman, Jane
(2007)
Women, Islam and rights in Europe: beyond a universalist/culturalist dichotomy.
Review of International Studies, 33 (1), .
(doi:10.1017/S0260210507007280).
Abstract
In 2004 the French National Assembly and Senate passed legislation which makes it illegal for Muslim women to wear headscarves (the hijab) within French public schools. To be precise the legislation refers to the banning of ostentatious religious symbols within the secular domain of the public school system, but is clearly aimed primarily at Muslim women, following a long-running dispute over this issue. Similar debates are taking place in other European countries such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. A bill modelled on the recent French legislation has been tabled in the Belgian senate, whilst various court cases have been brought in other European countries by Muslim women who have been banned from wearing headscarves by employers or schools. Following a ruling of the German Supreme Court that a Muslim teacher should be allowed to wear a headscarf, as this did not contravene current legislation, the state of Baden-Wuerttenberg acted to introduce legislation to ban headscarves, and this legislation is likely to be copied by six other German states
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Published date: January 2007
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Local EPrints ID: 35097
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/35097
ISSN: 0260-2105
PURE UUID: 0666f269-9478-4659-bf03-64add9f1b461
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Date deposited: 08 Jun 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:50
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Jane Freedman
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