In France, there is an ongoing social, political, and legal debate concerning the wearing of the hijab and other forms of Islamic coverings in public. The cultural framework of the controversy can be traced to France's history of colonization in North Africa, [ 1 ] but escalated into a significant public debate in when three girls were suspended from school for refusing to remove their headscarves.
Because of the wide-ranging social debates caused by the controversy, l'affaire du foulard has been compared to the Dreyfus affair in its impact on French culture. Since , the debate has grown to include the wearing of Islamic coverings on public beaches, when playing sports, and by politicians. According to several researchers, the headscarf ban "reduces the secondary educational attainment of Muslim girls and affects their trajectory in the labor market and family composition in the long run.
Between and , around female students were suspended or expelled from middle and high schools for wearing the scarf in class. Scholars have drawn connections between France's regulations on headscarves and historical colonialism, as well as France's difficulties in assimilating the Muslim population into society.
The most debated point is whether or not students have the right to wear the scarf in classes in public establishments such as primary and secondary schools, as well as universities.
Meanwhile, the controversy has contributed to discussions of the principle of secularism, which is the foundation of the law of separation of church and state in France. The two principal positions that have emerged are:. This debate has thus contributed in blurring the limits between the left and right on the traditional spectrum in France, and has revealed divergences on new political levels, especially between " republicans " proponents of intervention by the secular Republic and " liberals " in an older sense of the French term referring to those who support the liberties of the individual.
