Christmas tree

• Education Minister Gabriel Attal cited “laïcité,” or French secularism, as the reason for the ban.
• Many critics argue that the abaya is a cultural garment, not a religious one, and should be allowed under laïcité.
• My ethnographic research in French schools, where secularism debates are particularly heated, suggests that the abaya ban and the earlier “headscarf law” aren’t really about defending laïcité.

‘Catho-laïcité’

• Yet the faith still has a powerful influence upon French culture.
• Moreover, these get flagged as religious symbols, putting them in conflict with laïcité in ways that Catholic symbols avoid.
• Rather than neutral secularism, “laïcité” can represent a particular, Catholic-infused French identity that views religious or cultural “others” with suspicion.

Santa Claus in class

• In the lead-up to Christmas, schools often celebrate with decorations, concerts and even visits from Santa Claus – activities defended as cultural rather than religious.
• More recently, a mayor in northern France issued an official authorization for Santa Claus to park on rooftops, publicly declaring that Santa would be “within the law” during his visit that season.
• Local public elementary school students were later surprised with a video of Santa Claus and his elves depositing gifts at their school.

Fish, fowl and halal

• French school cafeterias often serve fish on Fridays, a Catholic tradition, but debates have raged over offering halal food or other substitutes.
• In 2015, a town in central France decided to stop providing substitutes for pork, which is forbidden in Muslim and Jewish tradition, in its school cafeterias.
• The following year, a middle school in Bordeaux began providing occasional halal meals, as well as nonhalal alternatives.

Other options

• Families seeking alternative education options often turn to France’s state-funded private schools, which are allowed to offer optional religious education but must otherwise follow the national curriculum and accept students of any faith.
• Options for state-funded private Muslim schools, on the other hand – a focus of my research – are sparse.

Future consequences

• The 2004 headscarf law, however, seems to have harmed Muslim girls’ educational success.
• Moreover, the study’s authors argue that this disparity increased the employment gap between Muslim and non-Muslim women.
• Taking a closer look at France’s education system, I argue, shows that the abaya ban isn’t really about laïcité.