27 Jun The Religious Renaissance and ‘The Revenge of God’: The Ban of the Hijab and the Doctrine of Liberty

Marieke Corthouts

IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs, IE University, Madrid, Spain.

Dual Degree in Business and International Relations

E-mail: mcorthouts.ieu2023@student.ie.edu.

Abstract

The burgeoning diaspora of Muslims in France has prompted a plethora of discordant dogma’s on the inherent French identity and the role of secularism in the political sphere. With laïcité acting as the beating organ of France’s social and political fabric, this paper will seek to divulge the profound roots of laïcité in France’s political architecture. Through addressing the 2004 ostentatious symbols bans, the 2011 face-covering veil ban, the recent 2023 controversial abaya ban and the debated ban of the hijab within sports, this paper will promulgate the effectiveness and ramifications of the enforced bans. The principle of laïcité embedded within these bans has proven to substantially hinder the integration of Muslim women within society, their educational attainment and their human rights. The surge in Islamophobic dogmas fuelling bigoted rhetorics have imposed profound psychological and mental effects on the Muslim community. The paper discusses a trifecta of policy recommendations which encompass a reversal of the niqab, burka and abaya bans, a redesign of laic policy architecture and a reeducation of French society.

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Keywords: Laïcité, Hijab, Niqab, Burka, Abaya.