What Is the Burkini Debate and Why Does it Matter?

 by Abi Cooper

In August 2016, a woman on a beach in Nice was confronted by four armed police officers (see the first image), fined for not ‘wearing an outfit respecting good morals and secularism’ and made to remove her burkini (a type of swimwear, mostly worn by Muslim women to preserve their modesty, in line with their religious beliefs), since the burkini had been banned as of summer 2016 in several french coastal towns. Despite the Conseil d'État’s ruling that the ban was unconstitutional at the end of summer 2016, these shocking images, and other incidents like it, sparked major outrage across the world, as people were angered that laïcité had meant that a woman had been forced to remove clothing and because of the negative implications that these incidents have in wider debates over rights of women, the government and bodily autonomy.  

It’s important to understand what the principle used to justify the actions of the police officers, laïcité, actually is. In short, laïcité is the French model of secularism which is designed to ensure the complete separation between Church and State in France, especially focused on making sure that the State remains neutral in all religious matters. In theory, this gives French citizens freedom to hold and express whatever religious beliefs they like and protects them from being forcibly influenced by any group. It also means that any French citizen only has the right to freedom of religious expression if they are not negatively impacting on the lives of other citizens, and this is where the key issue in the burkini debate lies. The controversy concerns whether or not wearing religious symbols, in this case the burkini, counts as forcing one’s religious beliefs onto other people or whether it is a form of self-expression.

Following terrorist attacks in Nice on Bastille Day earlier that year, French officials cited concerns over the wearing of religious clothing, and the promotion of religious extremism supposedly attached to it, as the reason for imposing the ‘burkini ban’. Although this in itself is clearly problematic, it provokes a wider discussion concerning citizens’ rights in France. Previous laws banning the wearing of ostensibly religious symbols have supposedly aimed to prevent anyone from being forced to wear a religious symbol (and this argument is usually centred around the hijab). However, the 2016 ban went further by specifically targeting Muslim women, with no apparent significant justification. Although previous laws had disproportionately affected them, since for many of them a religious symbol (i.e. the hijab, burka, niqab, burkini, etc.) was the difference between being able to uphold their faith or not, this ban explicitly discriminated against them specifically. This makes the burkini debate hugely important with regards to its regressive impact on  women’s, specifically Muslim women’s rights, and their right to bodily autonomy and freedom of expression, things which surely should be the default in a modern democratic society. 

The debate has been revived in recent weeks, with the city of Grenoble challenging the ban by attempting to authorise all swimwear (including burkinis) in public pools. Some in France see this as a potential step forward for Muslim women’s rights in France and their better integration into French society. But many others in France see it as an attack on French secular and Republican values and something that undermines the principle of State neutrality in the public sector, with far-right leader, Marine Le Pen saying that the burkini is the ‘clothing of Islamist propaganda’. The Conseil d’État seems to share the belief of Marine Le Pen, having confirmed on 21st June that the burkini should indeed be banned in the public swimming pools of Grenoble, citing equality, religious neutrality and hygiene concerns as the reasons for doing so. This decision, although seen by some as ‘a victory for… laïcité and above all, for the Republic’ (Darmanin, 2022), represents yet another blow to the battle for the rights of religious minorities and marginalised groups in France.

Ultimately, this comes down to a fine balancing act between upholding French Republican values and defending civil liberties, especially those of minority groups, whilst also considering whether something like the burkini is even a threat to those Republican values in the first place. Given the implications that policing Muslim women’s bodies in this way has, it seems clear that this ban has no place in the modern world as it encourages alienation and discriminatory behaviours. It truly is ‘Islamophobia Under a Cloak of Feminism’ - a directly discriminatory piece of legislation disguised as liberation for those who it discriminates against. The discriminatory rhetoric that seems to lie at the heart of these bans should not be something that should be encouraged in any modern society, especially one for which the protection of freedom of religious expression is such an essential foundation.