French Researcher: Headscarf Ban Solved Nothing

Published: 05-10-2005

French Researcher: Headscarf Ban Solved Nothing
 

By Ali Ihsan Aydin
 

French researcher Francoise Lorcerie has said that the ban on wearing religious symbols in French public schools yielded no solutions for any problems.

The ban may increase the “feeling of humiliation” among Muslim girls Lorcerie stressed and the Muslim girls yielded to the ban as they have no other choice but to go to a public school.

The French researcher, conducting studies on headscarf at the famous French National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS), made some assessments about the headscarf ban to the French Liberation daily.
 

The headscarf provided a free environment for the daughters of repressive families, Lorcerie advocated and the families allowed their “protected daughters” go to high schools or universities by wearing headscarves.

Veiling is realized for different purposes, explained Lorcerie, and it is necessary to end systematic perception of headscarf as the Trojan Horse of Islamism in France, the researcher remarked.

After the heated debates over headscarf, which escalated in 2003, religious symbols including kippas, swastikas and headscarves were banned in French public schools.

While the Christian and Jewish students who wanted to wear their religious symbols enrolled in private schools, Muslim and Sikh students remained in their schools.

United Nations Human Rights Commission representative Pakistani Asma Cihangir, who visited France at the time, said the practice prevented Muslim and Sikh students from acting in line with their religious beliefs.
 

Source: zaman.com