The prohibition of the headscarf in the public sphere: comparative EU–US perspectives

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The prohibition of religious dress or symbols especially the headscarf has been a highly contentious question in the European Union for years. Both the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights' approaches have been incisively and insightfully criticized for legitimizing a policy of neutrality and a ban on expression of religious or philosophical belief in the public sphere. This approach seems indeed difficult to reconcile with anti-discrimination law. While not as prominent a discussion in the US, the headscarf remains the target of Islamophobia and stereotyped claims that it represents the oppression of the women who wear them. In this context, it is striking that the perspectives of women which choose to wear the headscarf are rarely considered. The YLS European Law Association and the Harvard European Law Association have the great pleasure of hosting Prof. Eva Brems, Dr. Martijn van den Brink, Dr. Piela, Dr. Boubekeur and Prof. Whitman to unpack the contentious question of the prohibition of the headscarf in the public sphere from a comparative EU–US perspective.

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