An Algerian man was denied French citizenship because “his idea of sexual equality is not that of the republic”, according to a high-ranking official quoted by French radio station Europe 1. The man, who has not been identified, is married to a Frenchwoman, but does not allow her to leave the family home freely, it…
Lleida was the first Spanish town to propose a ban of the burqa, and now the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia has supported the veto. The Superior Court argues that the integral veil can “disturb the peace” of other citizens because it allows people to “hide their face” and this does not match the…
Recent events in Europe, from the cartoon crisis in Denmark to the controversy over the construction of minarets in Switzerland, have brought the status of Islam in the secular public sphere to the forefront of European political debates.
The Spanish High Court has granted citizenship by residence to a Muslim who belongs to the Tabligh movement. In 2006 the Spanish Government had refused his petition of citizenship as a result of a negative report from the CNI (Spanish Center of Intelligence). This governmental agency defines the Tabligh Islamic movement as intransigent with the…
In this essay, historian Micheline Dumont considers how gender parity remains central to concerns about the Islamic headscarf in Quebec, particularly because some equalities have only been recently achieved. Yet, Dumont examines why questions of gender equality have emerged recently solely emphasizing the headscarf when she claims there are many other (more pertinent) locations of…
