France: Woman Wearing Hijab Denied Entry By Bank (VIDEO)

France caused a stir in the Muslim world in 2004 with a law barring the hijab (headscarf) and all other religious clothing from state primary and secondary schools. Earlier this month, a Paris swimming pool refused entry to a young Muslim woman wearing a burqini, a swimsuit that covers most of the body. Earlier this week, Société Générale, one of France's largest Banks, refused to let a 24-year-old female Muslim customer enter the bank, unless she removed her headscarf. The hijab-wearing woman said that her face was visible and she posed no security risk to the bank. She also said that she will be suing the bank.

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Fempatriot]

I don't know why France has declared war on Islam. I do know it's a stupid thing to do. And very unfair. Freedom of religion should be one of the hallmarks of a truly civilized people.

[Mikal22]

This is a clear issue of Stupidity. Muslim women wearing Hijab are living what their religion tells them to do as part of their modesty. Mary the Mother of Jesus wore Hijab. Just look at all the pictures of Mary. Plus all catholic Nuns wear a type of Hijab, so what in the world is the problem. Oh its French!. The French president had better end this stupid enforcement. If the president of France has any sense he will remember that he collapse very suddenly and can not figure it out. It was a sign from God. To all of my Muslim sisters in France please tell this french leader that when catholic Nuns are banned from wearing their religious hijab, then they will still refused to removed their. Make him order the Nuns to remove their, they are only following their relgion and so are you. God bless America because since 1930 no muslim sister has ever faced such dumbness from their leader. Christian here hate everyone, but their religion dress is never banned. French, always trying to be the leaders of Europe but fail. Stop this stupidity. If Nuns have no proble Muslim women have no problem. Hijab forever!

[Maysoon Zayid]

What if the woman was wearing a headscarf because she had cancer treatments and lost her hair? Would she be forced to take her scarf off too? Her face is clearly visible. There is no justification.

[LeroyJenkins]

no french woman can drive a car in Saudi Arabia or go out alone, tell me which culture is more
discriminatory?

[riff4u]

Saudi Arabia of course but the issue here is France. The 2 countries are not comparable.

[overcat]

The Saudi connection is that it is Saudi Wahabism that is in many cases the source of increased Islamic extremism elsewhere in the world. It is Saudi money that all too often finances violence, murder and the extremism that seeks to undermine the secular democratic values of European countries. It is Saudi influence that Europeans who are reacting violence, intolerance and peripheral issues like the assertions of exceptionalism illustrated by this woman are responding to.

You're right in that the two countries aren't comparable at all. France is a free secular democracy that is pushing back against an increasingly aggressive, oppressive, theocratic backward looking mindset sponsored and financed largely by Saudis, while Saudi Arabia is just another source of religiously inspired wannabe domination.

[S1m0n]

"We're not as sexist as Saudi Arabia!" Isn't a slogan that rings for the ages.

[oregonrain]

I dont know about the rest of you , but , the sign in my bank says, remove hats, sunglasses , and hoods on a sweatshirt. I get that . I have never taken that to mean racism. As far as the woman on the beach goes , That is racism !

[stardust835]

Does the bank require nuns wearing habits to remove their veil and wimple before they can transact business?

This is clearly discriminatory. Her face is completely visible, more visible than if she had bangs hanging in her eyes or a Veronica Lake hairstyle where the hair covers part of the face.

I hope she wins her lawsuit.

Why do societies continually try to control women, either telling them how they must or must not dress, or what they are allowed to do with their own bodies. These are personal freedoms and are no one's business.

[calfacon]

Thank you! Well said.

[newsjunkie5]

I follow Mosaic's producer on twitter http://www.twitter.com/jamaldajani . He is great and always tweets links to amazing videos.

[leonardox1]

Hey he is a blogger on the Huffington Post

[MalteseKnight]

I am Catholic, ..for the past 62 years. I recall our women wearing a headscarf to go to church.. and also to go out! Marlyn Monroe used to wear a head scarf ...FRANCE IS JUST BECOMING A BIG STUPID JOKE.. It augurs well for the French, A place I only visited once..but never again!! I been recently to the Vatican, and many women wore Head scarfs .. not just Moslems ..What is France going to do with the Nuns, who wear the Habit.are they stopping them too, Well the French are just a bunch of Idiots if they allow this to happen!! As for the Burqa, sure It is a diferent sotry.

[gakabani]

French needs to be invaded and then rescued as we did in WWII. Then they will learn a lesson of humility! They have a joke for a president!

[loOranks]

Talking about humility, tell me who saved you US as.s during your independence war? who gave you your statue of liberty?

talk about humility!

[overcat]

"French needs to be invaded and then rescued as we did in WWII. Then they will learn a lesson of humility!"

Are you nuts? Perhaps the Islamic fundamentalists who have been asserting themselves in France and elsewhere in Europe with gay bashing, synagogue attacks, honor killings, mass murder via bombings (Madrid, London), religiously motivated threats, intimidation and murder, you know, those noble and righteous people, perhaps that's the kind of "lesson of humility" you're talking about?

"Invaded and then rescued as we did in WWII" - how condescendingly patronizing and blatantly stupid. Rigid religious fundamentalism is antithetical to free exercise of human rights and freedoms. Islamic tradition is not indigenous to France, and many of its tenets are contrary to French values and customs. It's a secular democracy. the rigid theocratic dictates of a minority need not be accommodated. No one is being prevented from freely exercising their religion.

Humility indeed.

[regularmess]

Oh France, you always want to have your Abyssinia and eat it too! http://thehappeningstory.blogspot.com/

[GunneraGirl]

i wonder how a buddhist in saffron robes is received in paris?

[mazaza]

As colorful.

[overcat]

If you've spent any time in Paris you know that it is a racially, culturally, religiously diverse city with people from all over the world. In the US perhaps only NYC is similarly diverse. This incident was probably illegal discrimination under French law.

[SouthpawSass]

Let me clarify my position. Should a woman CHOOSE to wear a scarf on her head, such is HER choice, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is mandating one way or the other.

I see some here expressing so much anger against those dictating her to take it off, and perhaps that anger is justified, yet no anger against those mandating her to put it on... Consistency is lacking.

[Alaa Murad]

She is wearing the Hijab in France and not in the Middle East so the argument that she had to wear it because someone force her is false.

Also it's not the bank's problem to free the woman, in France she should have a freewill to wear it or leave it.

I'm not a fan of Niqab ( cover the whole face ) but I don't see why anyone ever care about a woman wearing the Hijab.

Also a lot of Muslims in France, fought and died for France during WWII for that they earned their citizenship.

[mazaza]

""She is wearing the Hijab in France and not in the Middle East so the argument that she had to wear it because someone force her is false."
Young girls were forced to wear it at school so their wonderful fundamentalist Dad could raise highly political issues.
Young women are forced to marry in their home country.
Lots are closely watched by their brothers and have no right to date a young man.
Young women at school who bare their legs and dress "Western style" are called names repeatedly.
The most fundamentalist put a lot of pressure on those who practice a less politicized form of Islam.
The issue is politics and the role of religion in politics.

[Souris9]

I didn't see anyone mandating that she put it back on. (didn't finish the video, though) but if in fact they are, then that's wrong too. The treatment of women in Saudi Arabia, amongst others, is appalling.

It would seem to me however, that if you wanted Muslim women in France to become more culturally integrated, or more independent from potentially oppressive family members or whoever, that it would be much more effective to find ways to engage them constructively with the larger national culture, rather than preventing them from doing so.

There are very practical reasons for banning burkas, because of the anonymity issues but headscarves... not so much.

[piul05]

Exactly - nothing will send a Muslim woman quicker to the domestic sphere than institutions and people preventing them from going about her own business (to a bank, shopping, to the beach) just because she covers herself.

It is an attack on Muslims and unfortunately, but cynically, hitting the weakest link - women.

[GunneraGirl]

i believe the OP was referring to the Islamic culture when s/he referred to 'those mandating she wear a head scarf.'

i mention it, because i think it truly goes to the crux of the problem - a 'crux' which is invisible in the debate and that is that Islamic fundamentalism is being perceived as antithetical to western values.

[Shafiq Pandor]

Maybe I should clarify my position too then. I think that mandating women to wear anything against their will is unacceptable, it's just that such a view comes naturally in the Western world and most people (in the West) wouldn't even think about forcing women to wear something they didn't want to.

Mandating women not to wear a piece of clothing is becoming acceptable in some areas of the society we live in however, thus the concern.

[grey32]

SouthpawSass

Perfect post, that is the point from those of us defending the French...

[loOranks]

You're pretty much clueless about the French, eh? Tell me, how long have you been living amongst us?

[mazaza]

In France, secularism is a core value. 10 years ago the Hijab was nowhere to be seen. There is an obvious resurgence of a fundamentalist practice of Islam. Behind the religious practice, political agendas are being pushed. Of course, genuine concerns about women's rights too. Hence the French being very jittery about the whole thing, as they are about reactionary Catholics. We just don't want any religion forging its way into state policies. But the bank is not in its right, if the cameras could see her face.

[justice2008]

What do you expect from the French who killed 1 million people in Algeria? Disgusting!

[grey32]

What about the many, many places in the good ole USA.

No shirt, no shoes, no admission. Gosh I feel like my rights have been violated.

[Souris9]

So which religion are you again, that requires you to go shoe and shirtless?

[GunneraGirl]

that was the use of sarcasm to make a point. which actually was very well done. it's the same thing. i prefer to go barefoot but private institutions have the right to insist on standards which are within the cultural norm.

[Academic]

Only when the public at large and particularly those who are discriminated against withdraw their money and deposit it elsewhere will these morons get the real picture.

I can't ever see any bank standing on false principles if that means it losing customers or even going bust.

The people have it in their hands to fight back financially. But will they?

Professor Dr. Stanley Collymore.

[mazaza]

Well, Professor, that bank is probably at fault if the cameras could see the woman's face.
But it surely has not escaped you that behind religion there is politics showing its ugly head.
Tons of money from Saudi Arabia is funding Imams who teach in Mosque. Believe me, in some of those places, the political discourse is far from neutral.
The money is not where you'd think.
If we had given any place to conservative Catholics in our secular state, abortion would be illegal, divorce too, and girls and boys would have separate classes.
That won't do.

[Academic]

Religion like having sex with your partner should be a private matter and not forced down the throats of anyone; and that applies as far as I'm concerned to EVERY religion.

At the end of the day religion is all about one's belief and faith in them. Should I then if I were so inclined set up my own religion, fund it and get other wealthy people to do so and were it to become popular based on good marketing compel everyone who weren't drawn to my whacky views to submit to them or else?

Isn't this what the world's major religions are doing? Like you I think it's wrong. Religion these days is all about political power and control over others; little to do with compassion, morality or assistance to our fellow human beings.

Professor Dr. Stanley Collymore.

[Dyeboust]

Bloody right Capt'n.,
Checked the U.S. trade deficit with France lately? Or any other country for that matter. If you don't ketch my drift yawl, ask Fox's O'Riled:
http://mediamatters.org/research/200406150003

Why not boycott Turkey while your at it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/2002/islamic_world/2144316.stm

"Professor Dr" .... what a pretentious C*** you are.

[Hnorc]

When in Rome...I'm just sayin'

[Shafiq Pandor]

Nice phrase, but aren't French Muslims also French? Don't they get to decide what the 'Romans' do?

[JIzin]

LoL If they are choosing to be Muslim instead of French, then they are not the 'Romans' now are they?

This was a business expressing its right to refuse service to those who are dressed inappropriately. I dont go into stores that have a sign saying it will refuse service to those who are bare foot or no wearing a shirt. This same law applies.

As someone posted before me the "traditional" clothes of Muslims do convey attitudes, religious and political affiliations that are diametrically opposed to the "French" way of life.

Here in America we expect Muslim immigrants to learn English, and go through a process of assimilation and so do the French. Its their right to expect the immigrants to assimilate into the new culture, not try to change it to become Islamic.

[MarcusT]

Only Chrıstıans are French-dıdn't get the memo?

[Dyeboust]

Léon Blum;
Bernard Kouchner;
Marcel Proust;
My gggggrandfather;
Hell, even Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger ( before 13)
are/were not Christians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_Jews