“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.” 

“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. 

In the run up to the 2024 Olympic Games, Amnesty International 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.