Headscarf regimes in Europe: Diversity policies at the intersection of gender, culture and religion

Abstract

The headscarf issue became an arena of heated controversies over the politics of integration and religious and cultural differences since the mid-1980s. Most interestingly, these struggles are deeply connected to gender differences. Although all European countries are consolidated, liberal democracies, different institutional settings have translated into different approaches of headscarf policies. The main aim of this paper is first to explain differences and similarities in regulating the headscarf issue by analyzing three paradigmatic countries: Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. By selecting these countries, the paper aims, secondly, to contribute to a refined methodology explaining the different types of headscarf regulation. The third aim is to detect the gendered narrative of the policy debates. The comparison shows that an ethno-cultural citizenship regime does not always lead to a prohibitive regulation (Austria) and cooperative state-church relations do not always result in the accommodation of the headscarf (Germany). To explain headscarf regulations, it is important to take gender equality and antidiscrimination policies and women's movements into account, especially the cooperation of majority and minority women's movement actors. Finally, the analysis shows that gendering the issue is used as a strategy to construct a different other. © 2009 Palgrave Macmillan.