French media coverage of the headscarf controversy perpetuates considerable misunderstanding of Islam and thus the politics of tension between religious minorities in a society where secular is hegemonic. In 1989, in a small town outside of Paris, three girls were expelled for wearing hijabs. The girls were in no way disruptive, or incapable academically, however, the event became a significant media event which the hijab was framed as a ‘veil’ or misrepresented as a chador. Furthermore, public intellectuals in the media promoted concerns regarding “Iran-type” mobilisation in France. A similar incident occurred in 1994, 69 girls were expelled for wearing what was continually labeled in the media as a veils, as in 1989 the ‘veil’ became a point …show more content…
However it is somewhat contradictory. The Hijab is used as a point of distinction for French secularity, the headscarf is presented in such a way that it comes to represent the oppression of women and the removal Muslim religion from the Public sphere becomes a feminist movement. While on the one hand this is intended to mark French secularity as progressive and pluralistic, Wallach Scott discusses this as a form o f French Racism. Scott continues by arguing that French feminists initially had been critical of the contemporary, western consumer society’s tendency to reduce women to sex objects, however, this view transformed when the headscarf became an issue of debate in regard to-French secularity. The Islamic hijab was redefined in French Secularity and became a symbol of inferiority in the way that it allegedly organised gender. Through attributing this meaning, the Stasi Commission Can claim the Hijab is a blatant religious symbol that breaches principles of Laicite and therefore must be removed, in public spheres such as schools. This law, which bans ostentatious yet permits discreet religious signs, does not factor in Muslim meaning attributed to the headscarf. For some, wearing the headscarf in public is a religious …show more content…
The French promotion of Republican universality is prominent and yet it avoids, or even fails to address the realities of cultural and social pluralism in France,or lack thereof, universality is limited to the French secular.The drive among French authorities to maintain Laicite and preserve secularity has led to the construction of Islam as ‘the other’, in one respect similar to Bolshevik Russia, wherein there was a clear distinction between non-religious and other.This has lead to a consistent inability to distinguish between progressive Islam and radicalism. This is embodied in the headscarf, there is a tendency among the secular nation to identify someone wearing a headscarf as a representative of their religion this creates a view of Islam among secularity politics that suggests homogeneity of entire culture devoid of individual thoughts and beliefs.. Under French secularity and laicite the ‘islamic veil affair’, or headscarf controversy suggest ‘Islamism’ and ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ are terms that can and are used interchangeably. Thus raising questions of whether a secular society that continually reinstates the