According to a recent report by the Open Society Justice Initiative, nearly one in three EU member states have placed legal restrictions on Muslim women’s dress at either local or national level. In addition, bans on headscarves and other Muslim women’s dress by both businesses and public institutions have been increasingly reported in nearly half of the EU countries. This has resulted in preventing these women from accessing jobs. How can this be seriously reconciled with EU principles of non-discrimination and gender equality?
However, there is hope for an inclusive Europe as in most countries, proposals for legal bans have been rejected either by legislators or by the courts. This means that there are many people fighting back against attempts to stigmatise and discriminate against Muslim women, including strong civil society campaigns.
This is all the more important as analysis shows that many of these bans on religious dress, although framed as though they apply to all religious groups equally, in fact clearly and visibly target Muslim women. Indeed, restrictions are often adopted after heated debates on Muslim women’s dress and the presence of Muslims in Europe. The ‘neutrality’ argument is used frequently only as an attempt to legally discriminate against Muslim women. In addition, many far-right parties are increasingly pushing for these bans, using Islamophobic discourses. [...]
EU member states should assess the specific effects of rules on religious dress in public and private institutions on Muslim women. They should also ensure that practices and policies promote fully inclusive workplaces, places of education and public spaces, including by rejecting any new proposals to ban religious clothing in employment and institutions. Why has it been so hard so far to choose inclusion over exclusion in support of women’s emancipation?
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