{"id":3558,"date":"2026-10-14T13:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jalalalhajabed.com\/blog\/?p=3558"},"modified":"2026-10-14T13:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:04:09","slug":"what-are-the-legal-challenges-faced-by-hijab-wearing-women-in-some-countries-4436-9e3ba6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jalalalhajabed.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/14\/what-are-the-legal-challenges-faced-by-hijab-wearing-women-in-some-countries-4436-9e3ba6\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the legal challenges faced by hijab – wearing women in some countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months back, I stood in my workshop in Istanbul, running a finger over the edge of a custom-designed chiffon hijab\u2014soft, lightweight, and dyed in the muted sage tone a customer had requested for her sister\u2019s graduation. The workshop hummed with the sound of sewing machines, and three of my employees wore different styles of hijabs, each one tailored to their taste and daily life. Later that week, I received an email that stopped me cold: a woman from Berlin, a regular customer, wrote that she\u2019d been pulled over by police while driving, her hijab visible through the car window. She\u2019d been told to \u201cadjust it\u201d to match local \u201cstandards of decency\u201d or face a fine. That incident wasn\u2019t an isolated one. It made me realize that while I\u2019ve built my business around creating hijabs that honor identity, many women who wear hijabs are navigating legal minefields that most people never even see. Hijab<\/a><\/p>\n

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I started this company 12 years ago, after my niece\u2014who\u2019d just started wearing the hijab\u2014was turned away from a job interview in a small German town. The hiring manager told her the team \u201cdidn\u2019t need any distractions for clients.\u201d At the time, I sewed the first 50 hijabs on my own, using fabric I sourced from a local textile market, and sold them to women who messaged me through a small social media page. What began as a way to support my family quickly turned into something more: I listened to every story, every barrier, every adjustment women told me they needed to make to feel both comfortable and compliant. Those conversations taught me that legal challenges for hijab-wearing women aren\u2019t just about \u201crules\u201d\u2014they\u2019re about systems that force people to choose between their faith, their freedom, and their livelihood.<\/p>\n

One of the most widespread legal challenges I\u2019ve encountered in European countries, particularly France and parts of Belgium, is the 2011 ban on face coverings in public spaces. That law was supposed to apply to any full-face veil, but for many women, it\u2019s become a tool to target the hijab. I\u2019ve had customers tell me they\u2019ve been asked to remove their hijabs in grocery stores, at government offices, or even on public transit\u2014spaces where the law says it\u2019s only meant to ban face coverings that completely obscure the face, like the niqab. The line has always been blurry. Last year, a customer from Lyon emailed me saying she\u2019d been stopped at a city library because her hijab covered her neck and chest; a security guard told her it \u201clooked like a face covering\u201d and threatened to call police if she didn\u2019t leave. She had to pick up her books the next day, wearing a bandana over her chest just to avoid a confrontation.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just about public spaces, either. Employment discrimination linked to hijabs is rampant, and much of it is legal because of vague \u201cneutrality\u201d laws. In France, for example, the 2004 ban on conspicuous religious symbols in public jobs like teaching, police, and healthcare has been extended over the years to include roles in private companies that serve the public. A customer who works in customer service in Brussels told me she was demoted from a front-desk role to a warehouse job after a manager said her hijab \u201cclashed with the company\u2019s image.\u201d She tried to file a discrimination claim, but the company argued that their dress code was \u201cneutral\u201d\u2014no one had said anything about her blue hijab specifically, just that she \u201ccouldn\u2019t wear any religious items that customers might notice.\u201d She lost the case, and her former employer even told her she\u2019d be blacklisted in the city\u2019s retail industry. I sewed her a couple of high-necked hijabs after that, hoping they\u2019d help her feel less self-conscious when she goes grocery shopping, even if they didn\u2019t fix the discrimination.<\/p>\n

Education is another space where legal limits on hijabs create harm, especially for teenage girls. In Austria, recent laws have banned hijabs for girls under 14 in public schools, a policy that was framed as protecting children\u2019s \u201cfreedom of choice\u201d but which activists say is actually aimed at policing Muslim identity. A 16-year-old customer from Vienna wrote to me last year, saying she\u2019d been sent home from her gym class because she refused to take off her sports hijab. The school told her that \u201cphysical activity requires no clothing that covers the head,\u201d but they\u2019d allowed non-Muslim girls to wear baseball caps and headbands the same week. She started skipping school to avoid the argument, and her mother told me she\u2019d lost 10 pounds because she wouldn\u2019t eat at the cafeteria\u2014too nervous someone would comment on her hijab. I sent her a set of lightweight, moisture-wicking sports hijabs for free, but it broke my heart to know that a 16-year-old should have to fight just to go to class.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more insidious is the way these laws create a cycle of invisibility for hijab-wearing women. When women fear being fined, fired, or excluded just for wearing something that\u2019s central to their faith and identity, they start hiding parts of themselves. I\u2019ve had customers tell me they started wearing baseball caps or scarves that cover their hair entirely, not because they wanted to, but because it was the only way to keep their jobs. A customer in Amsterdam, who\u2019s a graphic designer, told me she stopped wearing her silk headscarf to client meetings because a partner had once commented that it \u201cmade the team look unprofessional.\u201d She now wears thin, neutral-colored scarves that blend in with her blouses, even though she owns a dozen colorful hijabs that make her feel like herself. That\u2019s not choice\u2014that\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n

I know some critics will say these laws are about \u201csecularism\u201d or \u201cgender equality,\u201d but when I talk to women who are affected, it\u2019s clear that these policies don\u2019t empower them. They push them to shrink, to compromise, to leave parts of their identity at the door. Last year, I attended a small conference for Muslim entrepreneurs in Paris, and one speaker, a woman who runs a catering business, told me she\u2019d lost a big corporate contract because the client said her hijab \u201cwould make their guests uncomfortable.\u201d She couldn\u2019t prove discrimination, because the client had said the decision was \u201cbased on team culture,\u201d but she\u2019d already spent thousands on custom uniforms that included small hijab pins. I sat next to her at lunch, and she pulled out her phone to show me photos of her young daughter, who\u2019d been wearing a tiny satin hijab for her cousin\u2019s wedding. \u201cI want her to grow up never having to hide who she is,\u201d she said, her voice shaking. That\u2019s why I started this business\u2014not just to sell hijabs, but to help women feel seen, even when the world is telling them to disappear.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not just Europe. I\u2019ve worked with customers in Southeast Asia, where laws around hijabs are different but just as restrictive. In some parts of Indonesia, for example, local governments have issued regulations banning hijabs in public spaces, a move that disproportionately affects non-Muslim ethnic minorities who choose to wear the hijab as a sign of solidarity or personal expression. A customer from Aceh wrote to me last year saying she\u2019d been fined $50 for wearing a hijab to a market; the local sharia police told her she \u201cwasn\u2019t a good enough Muslim to wear it in public.\u201d She told me she couldn\u2019t afford the fine, so she worked extra shifts at a local caf\u00e9 to pay it off, and only wore her hijab when she was at home or around other Muslim friends. That\u2019s the same fear, the same barrier\u2014just in a different place.<\/p>\n

The thing I want people to understand is that hijabs aren\u2019t just fabric and thread. They\u2019re a part of a woman\u2019s identity, her faith, her way of connecting to the world. When laws target hijabs, they\u2019re not targeting clothing\u2014they\u2019re targeting women\u2019s right to be themselves in public, to work, to learn, to move through the world without being policed. I\u2019ve spent years researching the legal landscape, talking to lawyers and activists, trying to understand how these rules are written and enforced. What I\u2019ve learned is that most of these laws were drafted without consulting the women who will be affected by them. Politicians talk about \u201csecuring national values\u201d or \u201cprotecting freedom,\u201d but they never ask the women who are having those freedoms taken away.<\/p>\n

This is why my business isn\u2019t just about selling hijabs. We also work with small organizations that advocate for the rights of hijab-wearing women, providing free hijabs to girls who\u2019ve been sent home from school and supporting women who are fighting discrimination in the workplace. Last year, we partnered with a group in Berlin that offers free legal consultations to women who\u2019ve been fined for wearing face coverings, and we donated 50 hijabs to their collection for women who need them for job interviews. Every time I get a photo back from a customer, wearing a hijab that fits her perfectly, smiling in a job interview or at a family event, it reminds me why this work matters.<\/p>\n

I know there are still so many fights to win. Laws are changing slowly, and discrimination is still widespread. But what keeps me going is the women who reach out, who tell me they want to keep wearing their hijabs, even when it\u2019s hard. They don\u2019t want to hide. They want to be seen, to work, to learn, to live their lives on their own terms. If you\u2019re a business owner, an organization, or someone who\u2019s looking to support women who wear hijabs, I\u2019d love to talk. We offer custom hijabs in a wide range of fabrics, styles, and sizes, designed to honor every woman\u2019s unique identity, and we also partner with organizations that work on legal advocacy for hijab-wearing women. Let\u2019s collaborate to create spaces where every woman can wear what she wants, without fear of judgment or discrimination.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 12 years since I sewed that first set of hijabs in my small workshop, and I still get nervous every time I send a package out to a customer. I never know what story she\u2019ll have to tell, what barrier she\u2019s facing that week. But I also know that every hijab we send is more than a product\u2014it\u2019s a small act of resistance, a way to say that a woman\u2019s identity is worth protecting. And that\u2019s a fight I\u2019ll never stop being part of.<\/p>\n

Embroidered Scarf<\/a> References:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. European Council on Refugees and Exiles. (2022). "Hijab Ban and Discrimination in EU Public Spaces."<\/li>\n
  2. United Nations Human Rights Council. (2021). Report on Religious Discrimination Against Muslim Women in the European Union.<\/li>\n
  3. Indonesian National Commission on Violence Against Women. (2023). "Local Sharia Regulations and Gender-Based Discrimination in Aceh."<\/li>\n
  4. International Labour Organization. (2022). Discrimination in Employment Against Women Wearing Religious Symbols.<\/li>\n
  5. French Observatory of Secularism and Religious Freedom. (2021). "Impact of 2004 Religious Symbol Ban on Muslim Women\u2019s Employment."<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Deqing Boliya Silk Co., Ltd.<\/a>
    Deqing Boliya Silk Co., Ltd. is one of the most professional hijab manufacturers and suppliers in China, featured by quality products and good service. Please rest assured to wholesale the newest hijab in stock here and get quotation from our factory. We also accept customized orders.
    Address: Baibiao Industrial Zone, Xinshi Town, Deqing County, Zhejiang Province, China
    E-mail: boliya@boliyasilk.com
    WebSite:     https:\/\/www.boliyasilk.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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