When the 2024 Olympics start this week, France won鈥檛 allow its athletes to wear headscarves during the games 鈥� seemingly in contrast with the Olympic charter鈥檚 calls for respect of religion and protection of human rights.
A recent from Amnesty International calls France鈥檚 restrictions on religious attire blatant discrimination and a researcher for the human rights nonprofit told NPR鈥檚 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 B艂u艣, a researcher for Amnesty International. Amateur soccer, basketball and volleyball leagues also don鈥檛 permit women to wear hijabs during play.
鈥漈hey 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,鈥� B艂u艣 said. 鈥滱nd 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.鈥�
The technical reason behind France鈥檚 ban
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement to NPR that the host country considers athletes representing it as civil servants.
鈥淭his 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,鈥� the statement read. 鈥淭he same secular approach also applies, for instance, to civil servants and teachers.鈥�
Am茅lie Oud茅a-Cast茅ra has reinforced the idea that the country鈥檚 national team is considered part of the civil service 鈥� so is subject to the same restrictions that apply to anyone in public service in France.
B艂u艣 said those secularist policies are being unfairly applied to French athletes.
鈥淲e do not agree that athletes on the French national team should be seen as public servants,鈥� she told Morning Edition. 鈥淭hey 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鈥檚 political choices or policies that actually discriminate and violate human rights.鈥�
Basketball player H茅l猫ne B芒 is among French athletes who have been excluded from professional sports competitions since October 2023.
She鈥檚 one of the founders of the collective (Basketball For All) in France. Her story is documented in the Amnesty International report where she said that 鈥渆veryone sees you going from the bench to the ladders and for them it鈥檚 just the case of 鈥榊ou Cannot Play鈥� but for you it鈥檚 a walk of shame.鈥�
This digital story was edited by Obed Manuel.
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