French towns battle to ban Muslim women’s beach attire
PARIS — The debate is so heated in France that one could be forgiven for assuming that the burkini — the full-body bathing suit worn by some Muslim women — had invaded French beaches. Five towns have banned them. Three more are doing so.
A woman gets into the sea wearing traditional Islamic dress. Some towns have banned full-body, head-covering swimsuits worn by some Muslim women from its beaches. AP file photo
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PARIS — The debate is so heated in France that one could be forgiven for assuming that the burkini — the full-body bathing suit worn by some Muslim women — had invaded French beaches. Five towns have banned them. Three more are doing so.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls supported the prohibitions on Wednesday (Aug 17), calling the garment part of “the enslavement of women”.
In fact, it would be challenging to spot a burkini on most French beaches, and even some of the mayors considering the bans admit to never having seen one.
But with a presidential election next year, and the nation on edge after a series of terrorist attacks — including one that killed 85 people along the French Riviera — the burkini has become a dividing line in France’s fraught relationship with its Muslim population.
That there is no clear definition of what qualifies as a burkini, and that Muslim women have complained of being singled out on beaches even when covered by other kinds of garments, has raised the question of whether the bans are meant to signal France’s demand for conformity with its non-Muslim majority or are genuinely part of France’s culture of laicit, or secularism in public life.
That debate is a continuation of deep-seated discomfort in France with Muslim women’s dress that has defied simple categories of left and right, leaving Valls, a Socialist, sounding a lot like the presidential hopeful for the center-right, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, or Mr Marine Le Pen, the leader of the extreme-right National Front.
The Center Against Islamophobia in France challenged the ban in Cannes and lost, but it is appealing that decision. Meanwhile, the Council of State, which determines whether such bans meet French legal requirements, is reviewing the local ordinances and is expected to rule Thursday.
Mr Marwan Muhammad, the executive director of the centre, said that six Muslim women who complained to his centre in the past week were asked to leave beaches even though they were not wearing burkinis.
“One was wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt and pants with a head scarf,” he said. THE NEW YORK TIMES
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