Headscarf bans in the Belgian education system : an empirical insight
- Author
- Corinne Torrekens, Saïla Ouald Chaib (UGent) and Raoul Rombouts (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- The headscarf, as a visible sign of religious identification, makes veiled Muslim women the subjects of wider identity politics struggles, both in their everyday experiences and in their educational choices. While many studies adopt a legal-institutional framework or discourse analysis perspective of the legislation, arguments and discourses surrounding headscarf bans, very few provide a systematic overview of the extent to which headscarf bans impact Muslim women regarding their school choice and how these bans are framed in schools’ policies. Based on an extensive analysis of the internal regulations of schools and on a phone call survey, we assess that a majority of secondary schools in Belgium implicitly prevent or explicitly forbid the wearing of religious symbols and even more explicitly the headscarf. In an education system based on a certain freedom of choice on the part of the school, this dramatically impacts options for Belgian Muslim girls and their parents.
- Keywords
- headscarf ban, Muslims, women, intersectionality, discrimination, education
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01KBCW73TQQ297SMJ47RKD9AWG
- MLA
- Torrekens, Corinne, et al. “Headscarf Bans in the Belgian Education System : An Empirical Insight.” JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE, vol. 14, no. 3, 2025, pp. 363–84, doi:10.1163/22117954-bja10122.
- APA
- Torrekens, C., Ouald Chaib, S., & Rombouts, R. (2025). Headscarf bans in the Belgian education system : an empirical insight. JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE, 14(3), 363–384. https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-bja10122
- Chicago author-date
- Torrekens, Corinne, Saïla Ouald Chaib, and Raoul Rombouts. 2025. “Headscarf Bans in the Belgian Education System : An Empirical Insight.” JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE 14 (3): 363–84. https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-bja10122.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Torrekens, Corinne, Saïla Ouald Chaib, and Raoul Rombouts. 2025. “Headscarf Bans in the Belgian Education System : An Empirical Insight.” JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE 14 (3): 363–384. doi:10.1163/22117954-bja10122.
- Vancouver
- 1.Torrekens C, Ouald Chaib S, Rombouts R. Headscarf bans in the Belgian education system : an empirical insight. JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE. 2025;14(3):363–84.
- IEEE
- [1]C. Torrekens, S. Ouald Chaib, and R. Rombouts, “Headscarf bans in the Belgian education system : an empirical insight,” JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 363–384, 2025.
@article{01KBCW73TQQ297SMJ47RKD9AWG,
abstract = {{The headscarf, as a visible sign of religious identification, makes veiled Muslim women the subjects of wider identity politics struggles, both in their everyday experiences and in their educational choices. While many studies adopt a legal-institutional framework or discourse analysis perspective of the legislation, arguments and discourses surrounding headscarf bans, very few provide a systematic overview of the extent to which headscarf bans impact Muslim women regarding their school choice and how these bans are framed in schools’ policies. Based on an extensive analysis of the internal regulations of schools and on a phone call survey, we assess that a majority of secondary schools in Belgium implicitly prevent or explicitly forbid the wearing of religious symbols and even more explicitly the headscarf. In an education system based on a certain freedom of choice on the part of the school, this dramatically impacts options for Belgian Muslim girls and their parents.}},
author = {{Torrekens, Corinne and Ouald Chaib, Saïla and Rombouts, Raoul}},
issn = {{2211-792X}},
journal = {{JOURNAL OF MUSLIMS IN EUROPE}},
keywords = {{headscarf ban,Muslims,women,intersectionality,discrimination,education}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{363--384}},
title = {{Headscarf bans in the Belgian education system : an empirical insight}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-bja10122}},
volume = {{14}},
year = {{2025}},
}
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