Legislating Fashion

16 February 2004


French Parliament Closes in on Headscarf Ban

The result wasn't even close in the Chamber of Deputies when the French legislature voted on banning headscarves and other overt religious symbols in schools -- Oui 494, Non 36. The Senate takes up the debate next, and there is every chance this ban will become law. It may keep France French, but it shows an incredible lack of creativity.

The problem in France is a 10% Muslim population in a Catholic country that suffered through generations of religious wars until an official semi-secularism prevailed after a revolution. In short, the social settlement of the 19th and 20th centuries is under attack by 21st century reality. Headscarves for Muslim schoolgirls, yarmulkes for Jewish school boys, turbans for Sikh boys in French public schools and crosses in the classroom are out. Liberte is taking a back seat to Egalite in the hopes of retaining Fraternite.

There is, of course, the Anglo-Saxon approach to the clash of cultures that the French have deliberately avoided -- multiculturalism. The French have decided to force integration on minorities, and the worry is that there could be a backlash. Yet, opinion polls in France show that the worries are in the minority. Around 70% of French folks asked approve of the ban, and in a largely Muslim community, even Muslim women are in favor of the ban 49% to 43%, and Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of Egypt's al-Azhar mosque and something of a holy man in the Sunni branch of the faith has given it guarded backing.

The argument in its favor is that France has the right to decide how people in France shall behave in order to be French -- after all this is a nation that has banned using the words "e-mail" and "hot dog" on the grounds that they are not French. However, the entire issue could have been sidestepped and brought to a conclusive and inclusive end. Headscarves for girls and turbans or yarmulkes for boys could have been made part of every school's uniform -- and if Parisian haute couture can't make that work, why does it exist? If the idea is to create conformity among French kids, then one might choose complete arbitrariness and establish these new standards for a new century. It makes as much sense as the pleated skirt of Catholic school girls and the ties that boys must still wear in a world of business casual.

In the end, this kerfuffle is a non-event, and it merely illustrates that politics is rarely about reasoned arguments over life and death issues. More often, it's about stupid symbols that have been left to the current generation thanks to the fumbling human-ness of preceding ones and their inability to pay attention to what matters. The only sensible thing about this is a compromise the Socialists managed to get through the lower house -- a review after one year of how this new dress code is working out. Nothing like hard data to settle matters of style.

Home