Muslim Women in Headscarves Leaving France Amid Growing Stigma

Three weeks ago, Lydia, a 24-year-old Franco-Algerian, received a job offer as a French teacher’s assistant in the suburbs of London. "... It’s my ticket out, the one I’ve been waiting for a long time," Slate reports, quoting the young woman, eager to get out of the despair in which constant looks on the street in Paris plunge her because she wears a headscarf.

For this master’s student in English literature, "exile was the only solution to live properly," and "the watchword is acceptance. In France, you are accepted if you look like the majority...," she laments, happy to leave for the United Kingdom, very well known for its multiculturalism, especially for work.

"London has not followed this trend of regulating the visibility of Muslim women, it is a situation that is very rarely seen in Europe," said Dr. Hanane Karimi, a proponent of Muslim feminism, stressing that Islam is not well regarded in France, if one looks at history and certain events.

For successive governments, it will be a question of "regulating or even banning the appearance of this religious visibility." But it will be the veiled women who will have to pay the price for these laws that may limit their freedoms.