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Effects of Banning the Veil in French Schools
New evidence on the educational progress and later life outcomes of students with a Muslim background
The question of whether banning Islamic veils in schools or public spaces cuts Muslim women off from a normal life or promotes their social integration has divided public opinion in Europe for 30 years. New research by Éric Maurin and Nicolás Navarrete Hernandez shows that the veil ban in French schools coincided with both an improvement in Muslim students’ academic performance and more mixed marriages.
Seeking to explain their results, the authors suggest that the ban on the veil helped to reduce conflicts over what had become a contentious issue, not least for students with a Muslim background, who found themselves caught between school contexts where wearing the veil is not the norm and social environments imposing costs when not ‘acting’ Muslim.
Before the ban, attending school forced these students to experience social adversity, either at school (if they wore the veil) or at home (if they chose not wear it). The ban removed the tension from one side, so attending school without wearing the veil was no longer a problematic choice at home, resulting in a lower probability of dropping out.
The ban on Islamic veils in French schools was a process that took more than a decade. Everything started with the expulsion of three veiled middle-school students in the city of Creil in 1989. The school principal explained to the parents that wearing the veil represented ‘excessive externalisation’ of religious affiliation, which was incompatible with the secular school environment.
A few months later, consulted by the socialist government at the time, the French highest administrative court cancelled the expulsions. It ruled that expulsions for wearing the veil could only be justified if the wearing of religious symbols interrupted regular teaching activities (typically sports activity) or if they coincided with proselytising.
In 1994, after the return to power of the conservatives, a circular from the education ministry officially asked school principals to ban all ‘ostentatious religious signs’ (which in France corresponds essentially to Islamic veils) because they constitute in themselves an act of proselytising that interferes with the principle of secularism in French schools.
Two mediators (with a Muslim background) were appointed to help schools to implement the circular: the idea was to favour dialogue between families and educational teams – to convince rather than coerce. This reduced the number of veiled students in schools drastically, but it required a massive effort from educational teams. In 2004, a law prohibiting veils in schools was enacted, quelling any possible debate.
Using data from the French Labour Force Survey, the new research first compares the educational trajectory of women educated in France with Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds. Figure 1A shows that non-Muslim women who had already left school in 1994 (those born in the early 1970s) were around 15% more likely to graduate from high school than their Muslim counterparts. For cohorts that were in primary school in 1994 (those born in the late 1980s), this gap was 7%.
The eight percentage point reduction in the gap occurred mainly for cohorts aged between 11-14 in 1994 (those born between 1980 and 1983, Figure 1B), which coincided with puberty and the veil-wearing age. There was no similar reduction in the high school graduation gap between men with Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, in line with a policy affecting only women.
The 2004 law further reduced the high school graduation gap between women with Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, but by less than the 1994 circular. The first hardening of the rules, the 1994 circular, seems to have drastically decreased potential conflicts, leaving less room for the 2004 law to act. The research also shows that the 1994 circular almost doubled the fraction of women with a Muslim background marrying a non-Muslim partner (from 13% to 22%).
The authors’ main hypothesis to explain their results is that the ban on the veil helped to reduce tensions and conflicts over the veil issue. Students with a Muslim background were caught between school contexts where wearing the veil is not the norm and social environments imposing costs when not ‘acting’ Muslim.
Before the ban, attending school forced these students to experience social adversity, either at school (if they wore the veil) or at home (if they did not wear it). The ban removed the tension from one side, so attending school without wearing the veil was no longer a problematic choice at home, resulting in a lower probability of dropping out.
This research shows that the dynamics behind these policies are so complex that it is hard to anticipate the final outcome. Much remains to be understood about how to help today’s immigrants and their children to develop themselves despite a possible clash of cultures.
‘Behind the veil: the effect of banning the Islamic veil in schools’
Authors:
Eric Maurin (Paris School of Economics)
Nicolas Navarrete Hernandez (City, University of London)
