Proposed bill would ban wearing ‘ostensibly religious’ clothing and symbols in French sports

Senate to debate and vote the bill this week

New law would exacerbate the blatant religious, racial and gender discrimination already experienced by Muslim women in France

‘The sports hijab bans in France are yet another measure underpinned by Islamophobia and a patriarchal attempt to control what Muslim women wear’ – Anna Błuś

French lawmakers must reject a discriminatory bill that would ban the wearing of “ostensibly religious” clothing and symbols during competitions in all French sports, Amnesty International said ahead of this week’s Senate debate and vote. 

The ban which would apply to competitions organised by sports federations, their decentralised bodies, professional leagues and affiliated associations as well as swimming pools, is being debated today and tomorrow ahead of an expected vote.

Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Gender Justice in Europe, said:

“At the Paris Olympics, France’s ban on French women athletes who wear headscarves from competing at the Games drew international outrage. Just six months on, French authorities are not only doubling down on the discriminatory hijab ban but are attempting to extend it to all sports.

“Under the guise of implementing the notion of ‘secularism’, these laws in reality target and disproportionately impact the rights of Muslim women and girls who will be excluded from competing in all sports if they wear a hijab or any other religious clothing.

“To equate the wearing of a headscarf with “an attack on secularism" is not only absurd but dangerous and would only serve to create division this proposed law purports to want to tackle. This law would exacerbate the blatant religious, racial and gender discrimination already experienced by Muslim women in France.

“All women have the right to choose what to wear. The sports hijab bans in France are yet another measure underpinned by Islamophobia and a patriarchal attempt to control what Muslim women wear. This bill must be rejected”  

“Laïcité”, or “secularism”, which is theoretically embedded in the French constitution to protect everyone’s religious freedom, has often been used as a pretext to block Muslim women’s access to public spaces in France. Over several years, the French authorities have enacted laws and policies to regulate Muslim women’s and girls’ clothing, in discriminatory ways. Sport federations have followed suit, imposing hijab bans in several sports. 

Damaging impact of hijab ban in French sport

In the run up to the 2024 Olympic Games, Amnesty published findings setting out the damaging impact of hijab bans in sports on women and girls in France and exposing how the bans contradict the clothing rules of international sport bodies.

The research looked at rules in 38 European countries and found that France is the only one that has imposed bans on religious headwear in sports. It found that preventing Muslim women and girls from fully and freely participating in sports can have devastating impacts on all aspects of their lives, including on their mental and physical health.  

In October 2024, United Nations experts condemned these bans as “disproportionate and discriminatory” and called for their reversal. But instead of addressing these pressing concerns, French authorities are now attempting to expand their restrictions to Muslim women’s participation in sports through this bill.  

As well as banning religious clothing, the bill would also prohibit prayers from taking place in any sports facilities or grounds and introduce a requirement for sports educators to undergo “administrative investigations…prior to the issuance of the sports educator's professional card”.   

Haïfa Tlili, sociologist and co-founder of Basket Pour Toutes, told Amnesty International:

“There is no objective data to justify decisions that severely restrict the freedoms of Muslim female licence-holders who decide to wear sports headgear. It is therefore incorrect and unjustified to assert that the rules which exclude Muslim sportswomen and girls are necessary, appropriate and proportionate for the proper functioning of public service.”

Basketball player and another Basket Pour Toutes co-founder, Hélène Bâ, described how hijab bans force Muslim women to make an impossible choice.

“This new law would have appalling consequences for Muslim women and girls: humiliation, stigmatisation, trauma, withdrawal from sport, breakdown of social ties, loss of self-confidence, disappearance of women's teams, endangerment of clubs.”

The explanatory note to the bill says that the “neutrality” requirement as interpreted in French law extends to employees and volunteers of sports federations, for instance coaches and referees and even “high level athletes”.  

According to a report accompanying the bill, this legislation has been prompted by “growing attacks on secularism” and the need to address reports of "radicalisation", "communitarianism" and "Islamist separatism" in French sports. It argues that banning clothing such as sports hijabs would prevent the formation of “counter-societies”.  

By placing the wearing of a headscarf on the spectrum of “attacks on secularism”, which range from “permissiveness” to “terrorism”, this legislation, if passed, would fuel racism and reinforce the growing hostile environment facing Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim in France. Indeed, framing headscarves as a security threat or singling them out as a symbol of women’s oppression is imbued with negative and discriminatory stereotypes that are endemic to the “othering” of Muslim women because of their religion. 

Political disagreement on the merits of the bill

The proposal was submitted to the Senate on 5 March 2024 by Senator Michel Savin after being debated in the Standing Commission on Cultural, Educational, Communication and Sports Affairs, revealing deep disagreements between senators on the merits of the bill. A previous attempt to ban religious headwear in all sports at the national level was rejected by the Senate in February 2022.    

https://www.senat.fr/rap/l23-667/l23-667_mono.html - explanatory note  

https://www.senat.fr/leg/ppl23-668.html - bill text only