While Paris 2024 boasts to be the first gender inclusive Olympics, controversy is surrounding the banning of hijabs for French athletes in certain sports and the opening ceremony.
The ban follows France’s secularism or “laicite” laws which prohibit public officials from wearing religious symbols.
Ahead of the opening ceremony, French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla said she would not be able to take part in the ceremony as she wears a hijab. After taking to social media to complain, the French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said she’d be allowed to cover her hair, just not in a religious way.
Photo: GEPA pictures/ Patrick Steiner
The ban operates due to the individual sports federation’s secular rules. This means that women competing in sports such as basketball, football and volleyball cannot wear hijabs during Olympic games or matches across the country.
This extends beyond the Olympics, and has been an issue in French sport for years with professional athletes forced to choose between their life’s passion and their faith.
“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” Said Helene Ba from Basket Pour Toutes (via Amnesty International).
Helene was first told she couldn’t play basketball in 2022 when a referee told her coach she couldn’t play. After having the sport she loved and worked hard for taken away from her, she co-founded activism campaign Basket Pour Toutes (basketball for all).
The hijab bans across multiple sports in France breach the values and human rights framework of the international Olympic committee (IOC). The IOC has not overturned the ban despite many organisations urging action claiming that it was outside of the Olympic movement’s remit.
Anna Blues, Women’s Rights Researcher at Amnesty International said: “It shows Muslim women that when the French authorities talk about equality between men and women, they don’t see them as women. They don’t count them.”