When the 2024 Olympics start this week, France won’t allow its athletes to wear headscarves during the games – seemingly in contrast with the Olympic charter’s calls for respect of religion and protection of human rights.
A recent report from Amnesty International calls France’s restrictions on religious attire blatant discrimination and a researcher for the human rights nonprofit told NPR’s Morning Edition that, beyond being unfair, the move could cause systemic issues for women athletes in France.
The bans have a wider impact on women in sports, dashing the hopes of female athletes in France, said Anna Błuś, a researcher for Amnesty International. Amateur soccer, basketball and volleyball leagues also don’t permit women to wear hijabs during play.
”They get to a point of constantly being asked to remove their clothing, to give up a part of their identity if they want to progress,” Błuś said. ”And a lot of the women that I spoke to said that they didn't see a future for themselves in France and that they were planning to leave the country and to compete for other national teams.”
The technical reason behind France’s ban
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement to NPR that the host country considers athletes representing it as civil servants.
“This means that they must respect the principles of secularism and neutrality, which, according to French law, means prohibition from wearing outwardly religious symbols, including the hijab, veil and headscarf when they are acting in their official capacity and on official occasions as members of the French national team,” the statement read. “The same secular approach also applies, for instance, to civil servants and teachers.”
France’s sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has reinforced the idea that the country’s national team is considered part of the civil service — so is subject to the same restrictions that apply to anyone in public service in France.
Błuś said those secularist policies are being unfairly applied to French athletes.
“We do not agree that athletes on the French national team should be seen as public servants,” she told Morning Edition. “They should not be required to carry out a role that goes beyond what they're meant to do, which is to participate in sports, to compete for their country. And they should also not be expected to follow their government’s political choices or policies that actually discriminate and violate human rights.”
Basketball player Hélène Bâ is among French athletes who have been excluded from professional sports competitions since October 2023.
She’s one of the founders of the Baskets Pour Toutes collective (Basketball For All) in France. Her story is documented in the Amnesty International report where she said that “everyone sees you going from the bench to the ladders and for them it’s just the case of ‘You Cannot Play’ but for you it’s a walk of shame.”
This digital story was edited by Obed Manuel.
Transcript
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
At the Paris Olympics, French athletes are banned from wearing headscarves. Amnesty International researcher Anna Blus has conducted interviews with those excluded from the team.
ANNA BLUS: They get to a point of constantly being asked to remove their clothing, to give up on a part of their identity - on their self - if they want to progress. And a lot of the women that I spoke to said that they didn't see a future for themselves in France and that they were planning to leave the country and to compete for other national teams.
MARTÍNEZ: France has long banned displays of religious symbols by civil servants, and athletes appear to fall under that umbrella.
BLUS: We do not agree that athletes on the French national team should be seen as public servants. They should not be required to carry out a role that goes beyond what they're meant to do, which is to participate in sports, to compete for their country. And they should also not be expected to follow their government's political choices or policies that actually discriminate and violate human rights.
MARTÍNEZ: How does the French Athletic Federation defend the limitations on head coverings? What do they say as to why the ban is in place?
BLUS: So there are different arguments being brought up by the different federations. And indeed, it's the individual sports federations that have these kind of bans in their rules and regulations. So there is, in fact, no national-level law that would prohibit the wearing of sports hijabs.
So we have, for example, the football federation, basketball and volleyball. And the football one has had this ban for quite a few years now - very much around these kind of secularism arguments, stating that no displays of religious affiliation should be made by athletes while competing in competitions, in tournaments organized by the French Football Federation.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, other nations allow their athletes to wear hijabs. What has the International Olympic Committee said in response to your concerns?
BLUS: The International Olympic Committee failed to challenge the French authorities' discriminatory treatment of its athletes in any way. And most recently, in response to another letter that we sent to them with a group of other organizations, it actually made very disappointing concessions towards the French authorities and claimed that, in fact, the French authorities are within their rights to limit religious expression. And it basically washed their hands from having any influence over the situation during the Olympics.
MARTÍNEZ: So the IOC is basically saying it's up to each country to decide what their athletes can wear or not wear.
BLUS: Yes, yes. In fact, that's what it's suggesting through this response. And I think this really - it really displays the hypocrisy at play, because on one hand, the IOC has this Olympic Charter. It tells us that it treats people without discrimination, that it treats everyone equally, that these games are all about diversity, equality, inclusion and respect. And at the same time, it openly states that it is allowing the host country to discriminate against its own women athletes.
MARTÍNEZ: That is Anna Blus of Amnesty International. Anna, thank you very much.
BLUS: Thank you very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF JASMINE MRYA'S "RISING")
MARTÍNEZ: A representative for the International Olympic Committee responded for a request for comment, noting, quote, "athletes are also acting in accordance with their national context."
(SOUNDBITE OF JASMINE MRYA'S "RISING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad