PM Feider, Social Shaping in the Classroom: Regulations of Islamic Headscarves in the Schools of Germany, Turkey, and India, 42 Wis. Int'l L.J. 581 (2025).
Islamic headscarf restrictions are not limited to Europe. Countries with relatively new Muslim minorities, Muslim majorities, and historic Muslim minorities have all attempted to regulate the wearing of headscarves. For twelve years, Germany allowed its federal states (Länder) to disqualify potential teachers because they wear headscarves. For nearly thirty years, Turkey removed students who wore headscarves from schools—and many government jobs. Each country lifted its restrictions through different means. Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court recognized that the freedom of religious faith protects teachers who wear headscarves. Turkey lifted its bans and, in doing so, changed its established constitutional interpretation of secularism. Presently, India faces the constitutional question of whether to allow students to wear headscarves in state-run schools where mandated uniforms do not include headscarves. Arguments in support of headscarf regulations rely on presumptions that headscarves inherently oppress women and on the belief that states should strive to create and maintain homogeneous populations—or at least an illusion of homogeneity. These arguments are flawed because 1) they rely on simplistic or incorrect understandings of Islam and Islamic law, (2) they ignore how bans undermine the agency of individual women, and (3) they undervalue rich, visible diversity in pluralist societies.
