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The Informal Impact of the Headscarf Ban on Veiled Students’ Everyday University Experiences in Paris
This study examines the informal impact of the 2004 headscarf ban on the everyday university experiences of veiled students in Paris. Although the ban applies formally to public schools rather than universities, the wider social climate surrounding laïcité and the veil continues to influence how vei...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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AUC Knowledge Fountain
2026
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| Summary: | This study examines the informal impact of the 2004 headscarf ban on the everyday university experiences of veiled students in Paris. Although the ban applies formally to public schools rather than universities, the wider social climate surrounding laïcité and the veil continues to influence how veiled students experience visibility, belonging, and participation in higher education.
Using a qualitative approach based primarily on semi-structured interviews, supported by informal observations conducted within university spaces in Paris, the study explores how exclusion is experienced through stereotypes, scrutiny, social discomfort, self-monitoring, and anticipation of discrimination rather than through formal university policy. The research focuses on students of Arab origin from different migration backgrounds, including second-generation women, 1.5-generation women, and first-generation student migrants.
Guided by intersectionality theory and social exclusion theory, the study argues that gender, religion, and migration background are interwoven in shaping a distinct experience of visibility and belonging for veiled students in French public universities. The thesis contributes to discussions on religion, migration, gender, and higher education by examining how the social meanings attached to the veil continue to affect everyday university life beyond the school setting. |
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