Paris 2024: The controversial hijab ban at sport’s biggest party
- Explore the heated debate surrounding the hijab ban at the Paris 2024 Olympics, as the world watches on with a mix of anticipation and concern over the intersection of religious expression and athletic competition.
Veronica Noseda, a football player for Les Degommeuses, a Parisian football team founded to combat discrimination, claims that the prohibition on the hijab—a headscarf that covers the head and neck but exposes the face—is the result of both gender and islamophobia.
Assile Toufaily, who played football for her home country of Lebanon at the international level before relocating to Lyon in 2021, concurs.
“It’s not really about French society, it’s the government,” she states.
“There has been a hate for Muslim people during these last few years in France, and it’s shown in sports.”
The coming of the Olympics in Paris this summer will be the most obvious sporting manifestation of a unique and contentious French idea.
The French Revolution gave rise to the motto “liberte, egalite, fraternite,” which is arguably the most well-known representation of what France stands for. It can be found on coins, stamps, public buildings, and the face of the constitution.
Another fundamental principle of the French Republic is laicite, which is less well-known and more difficult to interpret.
The term “laicite,” which is most commonly translated as “secularism” in English, refers to the state and public institutions being explicitly free of religious symbols and practices rather than the French people giving up all religious rituals or symbols.
This is a hotly debated concept in France, especially in light of the numerous terrorist incidents that have occurred in the last ten years and the concurrent rise of far-right politicians.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has repeatedly had to define the word.
“In October 2020, he stated during a speech that the issue isn’t laicite.”
“In the French Republic, laicite refers to the freedom to practice one’s religion and the right to believe or not believe as long as law and order are upheld.
“Laicite refers to the state’s neutrality. It does not, in any way, imply that religion should be eliminated from public life and society. “Laicite cements a united France.”
Without providing any examples, a 2004 rule that prohibited “ostentatious” religious symbols from public schools sought to provide some clarification on the subject.
Although some have viewed Sikh turbans, Jewish kippahs, and huge Christian crucifixes as violating the law, the most of the discussion has been on head coverings among the largest Muslim community in Western Europe.
Amelie Oudea-Castera, the former professional tennis player who lost to Martina Hingis in the Wimbledon juniors final in 1994, stated in September that the French Olympic squad is bound by laicite as an organization that represents and is sponsored by the French public.
“It means absolute neutrality in public services,” she stated. “The France team will not wear the headscarf.”
International athletes will be allowed to wear religious symbols in the athletes’ village of Paris 2024 if they so choose. But the French squad members cannot, if they are to follow their country’s laws.
Several foreign organizations have criticized the position.
An official from the UN Human Rights Office stated that “no one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear.”
Human rights organization Amnesty International stated, “Prohibitions on the wearing of religious headscarves in public spaces violate Muslim women’s rights.”
Nonetheless, the ban has a lot of support in France.
As an associate fellow at Chatham House, Sebastien Maillard has spent much of his career reporting on French politics and society. “It is a complicated and very, very sensitive issue,” he adds.
That was one of the big things that changed when I relocated to London from Paris. While religion is openly practiced in the United Kingdom, it is frequently viewed as more offensive in Paris.”
Maillard draws attention to a different, lesser-known dispute about the removal of religious symbols from Paris in 2024.
The official poster for the game was published in March and featured a stylized vision of Paris landmarks coming together to form a stadium.
A debate about how closely the Games, which will cost French taxpayers several billion euros, adhere to laicite values has arisen since the artist left out the golden crucifix that sits atop the Hotel des Invalides.
“The debate today more often focuses around a Muslim community, one that wants to be fully part of French society but also follow religion in its own way,” Maillard states. “We are constantly debating how that fits in.
“The French republic feels threatened whenever religion intrudes onto it, as it was partially built on a rejection of Catholicism. Older generations in particular have a deep-seated concern of religion gaining power over the state and society.”
The argument takes place in the domains of athletics and education, where those demographic disparities are most noticeable.
The French Football Federation (FFF) issued a directive to referees not to pause games to allow players to break their fast during the month-long Muslim fast observed between sunrise and sunset last year. The FFF claimed that these interruptions “do not respect the provisions of the FFF statutes.”
The FFF said that it will not change meal times or practices to accommodate Muslim players this year, as Ramadan fell during an international break. This effectively prevented Muslim players from fasting while in camp with France’s senior and age-grade teams.
Mahamadou Diawara, a midfielder for Lyon, reportedly abandoned the France Under-19s gathering due to external restrictions.
Diaba Konate, a gifted basketball player who has represented France at the under-23 level, has left for the United States, stating that she is “heartbroken” about the prohibition on her wearing the headscarf. outside
Since the leagues are organized and managed by public entities, female Muslim players are typically prohibited from donning a headscarf, even in low-level local contests. Some officials have also determined that protective scrumcaps, a workaround strategy some players have used, are in violation of the rules.
Because laicite is applied at the grassroots level of sport, athletes who wear headscarves typically make concessions or quit before competing at the highest levels.
However, this summer will put their predicament into sharp relief: deciding between representing their personal beliefs and donning the national team uniform in Paris 2024.
In other sports, standards have evolved.
Nouhaila Benzina, a defender for Morocco, created history during the Women’s Football World Cup last summer.
She was the first World Cup player to don a hijab when she played against South Korea in 2014, after Fifa changed its regulations to permit the wearing of head coverings for religious reasons. Ibtihaj Muhammad, an American fencer, garnered attention in Rio 2016 when she became the first competitor to represent her country in an Olympic headscarf. Later, she was one of the players that helped a major American sports company introduce a hijab designed especially for athletics. Iran’s taekwondo player Kimia Alizadeh, who also won a medal at those Games while donning a head covering, left Iran and immigrated to Germany, where she denounced the “compulsory hijab” policy of the Iranian government. She participated in the Tokyo Games in 2021 without donning a headscarf and under the banner of the Refugee Squad. Speaking exclusively for herself, Iqra Ismail offers insight from the United Kingdom, where laicite is an unfamiliar term. She is a Muslim who has loved sports since she was a little child, a director of Hilltop FC, and the coordinator of the QPR Community Trust’s Female Refugee Football Project.
“The hijab is an integral part of who I am. I won’t play outside the limits of the field when it comes to my game,” she declares.
“Football is a human right; everyone should definitely have the right to participate in it.”
London-based Sisterhood FC is a women’s Muslim football team founded by Yasmin Abukar.
Regarding the motivation for the club, Abukar explains, “I was asking Muslim girls what made them stop playing football, and the answers that they gave me were so sad to hear.”
Because they felt as though they didn’t belong, half of them stopped. The other half believed that football was not available to them in a way that complied with their religious beliefs.
“As a young Muslim told by the government that I am not allowed to practice my religion freely, I cannot imagine how I would feel.
“I’m very thankful that my parents didn’t migrate to France.”
For more information, visit our website: https://sportzbiz.co.uk/