Muslim Women Protest French Senate Vote to Ban Hijabs in Sports Competitions

The vote of an amendment to the proposed law on sport aiming to prohibit the wearing of "conspicuous" religious symbols - primarily the veil - "at sporting events and sports competitions organized by sports federations and affiliated associations" is not to the liking of the "Hijabeuses". On Wednesday, they demonstrated against the vote of this amendment. "Depriving women of the essential right to practice a sport and the pleasure of playing is very serious," summarizes Imen in the newspaper Le Parisien. "It’s a matter of dignity, resumes Khartoum. We’re not asking for the moon, we’re just asking to play."

"How much longer will we exclude women who wear the headscarf, from sport, work, leisure, under the pretext of liberating them?" protests the Alliance Citoyenne association, which carries the Hijabeuses collective. "The Hijabeuses & their allies have just improvised a match in front of the Senate to remind that they will continue to play even if the State does not want to," relayed the Dégommeuses collective. "Deputies and senators, it is still time to go back on a discriminatory law contrary to secularism."

Deputies and senators will have to examine the sports bill, the amendment included, in a joint committee on Monday, January 31, 2022 in order to find a compromise.