On the first day of the school year in France, nearly 300 girls wearing abayas, an over-garment worn by Muslim women, defied a government ban on the dress, according to government minister Gabriel Attal. Most of them agreed to change out of the abaya, but 67 girls refused and were sent home. The French government had announced a ban on the abaya in schools, citing concerns about secularism in education. This move received mixed reactions, with the political right supporting it, while the hard-left saw it as an affront to civil liberties.
Attal explained that the girls who were sent home were given letters addressed to their families emphasizing that secularism is a liberty, not a constraint. If they return to school wearing the abaya, there will be a “new dialogue.”
President Emmanuel Macron defended the measure, highlighting the need to address those who challenge the principles of secularism and the republic, citing the 2018 murder of teacher Samuel Paty as an example.
An association representing Muslims has filed a motion with France’s highest court to challenge the ban on the abaya and its equivalent dress for men, the qamis. This motion is set to be examined later.