ICON S Conference 17 – 19 June 2016 Humboldt University Berlin

and systematically constructed, in Republican law, to
exclude some categories of people of the entitlement
of rights, such as women.
Céline Fercot: Gender stereotypes discriminations
and equality
This paper looks at the reform of parental leave the
was introduced in 2015. The reform was presented as
a was to unsettle the breadwinner/housekeeper stereotypes
and rebalance the share of parental roles. It is
however expected to have only a limited effect in terms
of real gender equality. Not only is the reform essentially
incentive in nature it also does not go far enough in its
apprehension of the countless stereotypes that affect
not only women but also men both in the workplace
and in the domestic sphere. Stereotypes are generally
analyzed and combated only from the perspective of
female stereotypes. Yet even if the position of men can
not be analyzed in the same terms as that of women
it is important for policy reform to conceive of stereotypes
as a whole.
Eléonore Lépinard: The invention of colorblind
ness: the constitutional politics of race in
France (1946-2012)
This paper investigates the genealogy and the interpretation
of an important constitutional provision,
the first one of the French Constitution, which states
that the Republic ensures equality of treatment of all its
citizens “without distinction based on origins, race or
religion”. This anti-discrimination clause has been used
several times since the 1990s by the Constitutional
Council to promote a color-blind interpretation of the
Constitution that has fueled what can be termed a “republican”
turn in French constitutional politics. Indeed,
since the 1990s any recognition of any group difference
(especially those based on sex and race/ethnicity) has
been closely scrutinized, and often rejected, by the
French Constitutional Council (CC), thereby preventing
the implementation of affirmative action policies or the
measure of ethnic discrimination. While the CC has
invoked in its decisions the first article of the Constitution
and a French “tradition” of blindness to differences,
a historical perspective on how this article made its
way into the Constitution, its conceptual and political
premises, reveals quite another story. Looking at the
recent constitutional politics of race promoted by the
CC in this broader perspective reveals the extent of
the CC’s interpretative strategies and its central role
in the crafting of an exclusive form of republicanism.
all the requirements the state may refuse to grant him
or her French citizenship. In other words the procedure
distinguishes among foreigner applicants those
deemed worthy of joining the national community while
granting citizenship through naturalization differentiates
within the nation those who came from elsewhere.
However the current debate about the deprivation of
nationality has shown an extended use of the notion
of favor. Indeed it seems to concern henceforth those
among French nationals who are conceived as other
even if they are born French. This paper aims to address
the way in which the notion of favor is used to
define French citizenship in the case of racialized others,
also in comparison with Germany.
Elsa Bourdier: French laicité from freedom to
repression
The paper uses a distinction first offered by A. Ferrari
between legal laïcité and narrative laïcité to differentiate
between two levels of discourse relating to
laïcité. Narrative laicité is a discourse that refers to a
republican ideal Legal laicité is made of positive law.
The crucial steps of this evolution of laïcité from an inclusionary
to an exclusionary tool (such as, for instance,
the 2010 ban on face-concealment) have not, however,
been based on legal laïcité but rather on grounds such
as safety. While narrative laïcité justifies the banning of
face-covering veils, legal laïcité could not –lest legal
regimes risk being deemed discriminatory. By studying
the decisions of the French Constitutional Court (2010)
and the European Court of Human Rights (2014) which
controlled the law banning face covering veils in public
spaces, the paper aims to demonstrate that narrative
laicité impacts the interpretation of the law despite its
neutral and general aspect.
Sarah Mazouz: Favor as a Frame: Logics of
Belonging and Exclusion in French Practices of
citizenship
The notion of favor is initially limited to the naturalization
procedure. Indeed unlike the other ways of
acquiring French citizenship naturalization is defined
as a ‘favor’ made by the state to deserving foreigner
applicants. It means that even if the applicant fulfills
Concurring panels 142