The education minister says female Muslim students will not be allowed to wear the loose-fitting robe.

Pupils will be banned from wearing abayas, loose-fitting full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in France’s state-run schools, the education minister has said.

The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September.

France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws.

Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools.

  • Lols [they/them]English
    3•1 year ago

    can you explain why other people wearing culturally traditional clothing is “religious propaganda and artificial separation”? do you feel this way about other traditional garb, or is it just the scary muslims?

    • EvilHaitianEatingYourCatEnglish
      3•1 year ago

      Yes i can explain. Literally nobody else does it. And if someone would, then my position will be the same: wear regular clothes in public institutions.

      • Lols [they/them]English
        5•1 year ago

        i think enforcing the local culture by telling women what they can and cannot wear is bad, actually

        can you explain why you disagree with that stance

        • EvilHaitianEatingYourCatEnglish
          1•1 year ago

          we are talking about underage girls here, not exactly adult “women” so I reject the idea that those girls could choose/buy their outfit. Regardless, I disagree because:

            1. We are choosing between either parents imposing a robe, or the state imposing a robe; wearing that robe would clearly differentiate the ethnicity/religious background of the pupil, while wearing regular “whatever everyone else is wearing” would help the integration and erase the boundaries. Note that parents cannot just withdraw the kid out of school, so they have to integrate; private education is almost never an option
            1. It avoids the whole can of worms like “professor didn’t like my muslim robe, that’s why I got bad grades”
            1. Personal take: I HATE religion. Yes, churches too, I have enough hate for every religious nut out there. And no need to tell me “abaya is not a religious dress”, who are you fooling.

          Ideally, I agree, State should just fuck up and let people live. But that’s not taking into account any local context, and nobody lives in a vacuum, people live in some particular society. As an immigrant myself, I do think that it’s best for foreigners to integrate to host country as much as possible.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•1 year ago

        What about the Jews and their Yamakas? The Catholics and their Rosary? Other religions have certain dress codes and accessories, too. They are just not always a full body covering.

        I would hope that schools in France ban other religious items like those if they are banning Muslim clothing and accessories.

        • EvilHaitianEatingYourCatEnglish
          2•1 year ago

          They are actually. That’s literally said: “no religious symbols in school”.

          • @[email protected]English
            2•1 year ago

            That’s good then I see no problem as long as the rule is enforced equally. Religion has no place in schools, unless it’s history class.