Secularising the Veil: A Study of Legal and Cultural Issues Arising from the Wearing of the Islamic Headscarf in the Affaire du Foulard in France

Secularising the Veil: A Study of Legal and Cultural Issues Arising from the Wearing of the Islamic Headscarf in the Affaire du Foulard in France

This thesis presents a study of the institutions, forms and manifestations of secularism, or laïcité, in France, in the context of a series of events which became known as the 'affaire du foulard' or 'affaire du voile': the affair of the headscarf or the veil.

My thesis examines the key legal and administrative texts in the affaire du foulard, including the Conseil d'État's 1989 legal opinion ('Avis') and key ministerial circulars, noting the legal implications of successive circulars and the shifts in government policy which they represented.

In addition, my thesis analyses the transcripts of many of the legal decisions in the 'foulard' administrative court cases. These judgements were important in deciding the future education of the schoolgirls, and they also clarify the Conseil d'État's 1989 opinion. The decisions established a consistent set of principles to define the circumstances in which wearing religious signs such as the foulard was considered compatible or not with laïcité in public schools. The results of my analysis indicate that, contrary to popular opinion in relation to the affaire du foulard, the majority of cases were decided in the Muslim girls' favour and upheld their right to wear a religious sign such as the Islamic headscarf at school.

However, in early 2004 the legal regime in France governing the wearing of religious signs changed: a new law on secularism was passed by the French Parliament to prohibit the wearing of the foulard (and indeed all visible religious signs) in public schools. The law was welcomed by many sectors of the French community but also provoked extensive public protests. My thesis offers insight into the background of the affaire du foulard, and the potential legal and social consequences of the 2004 law in future years.

This thesis also provides a careful account of the institutions and operation of the principle of secularism, or laïcité, in France. My research explains some of the complexities of the legislative regime established by the Conseil d'État and the administrative courts, who worked to balance priorities of freedom of religion and laïcité as well as to protect the education of many expelled Muslim schoolgirls.

In so doing, my thesis highlights the complexity of the principle of laïcité itself.

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