It was only in the past month that I learned about the bill to ban hijabs in France for all women under the age of 18. Forcing women to wear a hijab is wrong, just like forcing them to take it off. “Age to consent to sex in France: 15, Age to consent to hijab: 18 Let that sink in. It is not a law against the hijab. It is a law against Islam.” If the bill passes and the age to consent to reproduce is younger than the age to consent to wearing a hijab, it would be absurd. 

Olympic athlete Ibtihaj Muhammad shared a post saying, “This is what happens when you normalize anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim hate speech, bias, discrimination, and hate crimes – Islamophobia written into law.” The quote refers to the bill France is considering, which would prohibit minors from wearing hijabs or religious symbols in public areas and mothers from wearing them when dropping their children off at school. 

The proposed ban is motivated primarily by secularism, which is defined as apathy toward, rejection of, or exclusion of religion and religious considerations. This means that banning the hijab is Islamophobic. If France begins banning religious symbols and attire for all cultures, it will violate UDHR 18 and 19, Freedom of Thought, including religion, and Freedom of Expression. By banning the hijabFrance is restricting Muslims from expressing their religion and restricting their religious lifestyle.

 I stand against the ban as human rights are arguably one of the most fundamental rights, and violation of any of them is intolerable. The bill passing would be insane.

To help stop the ban, millions of women gather together on social media platforms with the hashtag ‘Hands off my hijab’ and sharing personal stories about how they had to remove their hijab while crossing the border or just because they were in a public space.

Now even though experts say the ban has no chance of passing, the mere suggestion of it triggered global outrage, and rightfully so as the situation is absurd. A violation of human rights within the law is insanity.

Stopping the ban against the hijab is the first step to stop Islamophobia, but the more significant problem is that these religious symbols are seen as issues. Seeing differences such as race or religion being seen as problems are the most outstanding issues.