THE ‘ISLAMIC SCARF’ IN THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

[The wearing of religious clothing and symbols has become a source of potent legal and political controversy. This article analyses the way in which the European Court of Human Rights has dealt with claims by two women (one a teacher and one a student) who were denied the right to wear headscarves in their educational institutions. The article analyses the way in which the Court considered but failed to fully engage with three issues raised in those cases: proselytism; gender equality; and intolerance and secularism. It criticises the Court’s reliance on stereotypes and generalisations about Muslim women, and Islam more generally, and explores the way in which two contradictory images of Muslim women inform the Court’s decisions.]