Dress codes at educational institutions aren’t just about appropriate skirt lengths anymore. A medical student at Istanbul University wasn’t allowed to take a final exam in 1998 because of her Islamic head covering. Leyla Sahin, a Turkish woman from a Muslim family, considers her head scarf a religious duty and fought the university’s dress code after being denied access to myriad classes and examinations.
When a Turkish court refused to repeal the head scarf ban, Sahin appealed the decision to the European Court of Justice. Thursday, that court upheld Turkey’s prohibition of head scarves on university campuses. As an organization that “deals with disputes and upholds the treaties of the European Union,” the Court of Justice has set an inexplicably terrible precedent for issues of religious freedom and individual expression.
The court’s decision to side with the Turkish dress code is nothing short of approving religious discrimination.
Because the Turkish constitution is based on strictly secularist principles, the state is not supposed to show a preference for any particular religion. However, if an Islamic form of religious expression is banned, non-Islamic religions are certainly receiving preferential treatment by the Turkish government. Are necklaces with crucifixes explicitly banned from university campuses? How about Jewish stars? Are atheists required to keep their disbelief in a higher power to themselves?
It is unfair that the head scarf should be banned simply because it is a very obvious, visual display of religious affiliation. Unless university officials are prepared to prevent anyone with a religious affiliation from attending their campus, students should be allowed to indulge in personal, nonobtrusive, nonharmful expressions of their religion.
When crafting their decision to retain the ban on head scarves, the European Court of Justice claims to have paid special heed to the issue of women’s rights. Indeed, head scarves are often made out to symbolize the oppression of Islamic women. However, the women who choose to wear the scarves often have a different interpretation of their head gear. Modern feminists from an Islamic background consistently theorize that demonizing women’s head coverings shows a lack of knowledge or appreciation for non-Western religious backgrounds. These feminists always make the point that a woman who wears a head scarf or a burka should not be designated oppressed, as long as the choice to cover or not to cover belongs to her.
In the case of Leyla Sahin, it is the European court rather than a religious head covering that is truly oppressing women. The court is deluded in their thinking that a ban on head scarves is a step forward for women’s rights. The only effect most women will feel from the scarf ban is frustration, when they are forced to choose between their religion and their education. Already, hundreds of Turkish women have come out in protest to the head scarf ban.
Also objecting to the ban is Human Rights Watch, an organization that exposes and comments on international human rights issues ranging from homophobic legislation to the military recruitment of children. Human Rights Watch has taken a firm stand against the decision of the European court, making the valid point that secularism was founded from a point of view wherein all beliefs and religions, including atheism, are treated with respect.
Obviously, the judges on the European Court of Justice believed that their decision was just and respectful to all. The court even claimed that its ruling was in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights. However, looking at the convention document, it is difficult to understand how the court could possibly consider itself in compliance with human rights regulations.
According to the convention, “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion … either alone or in community with others and in public.” The convention goes on to say that the only time a person is not allowed to manifest their religious beliefs is when such manifestations are a threat to public safety, public order or are illegal. Unless head scarves can be shown to damage the general safety and order of society, the Convention on Human Rights would seem to dictate that scarves not be banned from university campuses.
The recent head scarf ruling follows in the footsteps of a 2004 French bill that banned girls from wearing head scarves in all state schools. And there is no need to explain how Muslim communities in France feel about their country’s religious atmosphere; flaming cars and suburban riots pretty much sum it up.
It is uncommon to say in our current global atmosphere, but Europe should take a page from U.S. policy decisions. When a Muslim girl in Oklahoma was sent home for wearing a hijab, the U.S. justice department ruled that a dress code that banned the head scarf should be considered religious discrimination.
The United States got it right: Secularism is pointless if people are still oppressed for their religious expressions.

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