Excluding veiled women from French public space: the emergence of a ‘respectable’ segregation?

Abstract

The controversies around Islam in France have given rise to a series of public policies. Such measures have led to an expansion of what is usually referred to as ‘public space’ and a generalization of the principle of ‘neutrality’ which was previously only required of public officials. Limitations on the visibility of Muslim religious practice are intrinsically gendered since the controversies that led to political decisions were aimed at Muslim women, particularly those who wear a marker of Muslim religiosity: the hijab, a garment that covers their head. This article draws on the sociology of public policy to analyse concepts such as ‘laïcité’, ‘dignity’ and ‘fundamental values’ that have been used to legitimize the legal exclusion of veiled women from public space, paradoxically in the name of their emancipation.