Muslims in Europe: - International Institute - University of Michigan

What Touria is wearing is a bandanna, a simple scarf that covers her hair but not her
ears or neck. She says she prefers to wear this so she doesn't draw attention to herself
or her religion.
Touria is one of five veiled girls from Delacroix who are meeting once a week in a
friend's flat to discuss their strategy to fight a strict interpretation of the law at their
school.
Others come to the meetings too, including a handful of anti-law teachers and non-
Muslim schoolfriends.
Their fear is that the headmaster will decide to ban all headcoverings, so they're looking
for a compromise.
Secular France
The headmaster, however, is under pressure from the majority of his teachers, who
want a total ban on headcoverings.
He has decided to hold a public meeting at the school term so all interested parties can
air their views.
Among the speakers at the public meeting is Eric Finot, a history teacher at Delacroix
with strong views on the subject.
As he rises to speak, he says he wants to address the veiled girls in particular.
"We are only asking you to abide by the principle of secularism," he says.
To the anger of the girls, he then adds: "We are thinking of those girls who we could
maybe protect a little bit at school... This law is here to protect those girls who are
compelled to do things they don't want to do - not to be forced into marriage, not to wear
the veil."
Separate issues
For the veiled girls, the public meeting confirmed their worst fears. The pro-law lobby
was mixing everything Islamic in the same pot: Sharia law, forced marriage, veils.
They understood very well the feminist arguments condemning many aspects of their
faith, but all of them insisted that they were under no pressure at home to wear the veil.
In fact, quite the opposite. Their parents would prefer to them to de-veil than jeopardize
their education.
Touria adds: "People say that it's the women who wear the veil that are submissive...
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