The Veil as Perceived and Real Boundary for Spanish Muslim Youth: Case by Case Regulation in Light of Discrimination and Individual Rights Claims

Abstract

After decades of European society’s preoccupation with usage of the Islamic headscarf, the debate remains ongoing, and related legal claims are met with conflicting decisions at the European, national and regional levels. In this chapter, couched within the broader European context, an analysis of the unique Spanish example offers insight into why legal contestations regarding the veil are managed on a case by case basis, rather than met with more uniform regulation or rulings. As part of this, a qualitative study of Muslim youth in Madrid illustrates the veil’s multiple and varied meaning, and highlights encounters with hijab discrimination. Such encounters, both within this study and as evidenced throughout Europe, have been repeatedly argued to infringe upon fundamental rights to non-discrimination and religious freedom enshrined in European legal frameworks. Going forward, in ensuring the protection of rights in increasingly heterogeneous European societies, the veil controversy could move towards a better resolution via legal and policy approaches to rights as being interdependent rather than hierarchical, reflecting the intersectional nature of the debate.