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The Veil as Perceived and Real Boundary for Spanish Muslim Youth: Case by Case Regulation in Light of Discrimination and Individual Rights Claims

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Migration and Integration Challenges of Muslim Immigrants in Europe

Part of the book series: Politics of Citizenship and Migration ((POCM))

Abstract

After decades of European society’s preoccupation with usage of the Islamic headscarf, the debate remains ongoing, and related legal claims are met with conflicting decisions at the European, national and regional levels. In this chapter, couched within the broader European context, an analysis of the unique Spanish example offers insight into why legal contestations regarding the veil are managed on a case by case basis, rather than met with more uniform regulation or rulings. As part of this, a qualitative study of Muslim youth in Madrid illustrates the veil’s multiple and varied meaning, and highlights encounters with hijab discrimination. Such encounters, both within this study and as evidenced throughout Europe, have been repeatedly argued to infringe upon fundamental rights to non-discrimination and religious freedom enshrined in European legal frameworks. Going forward, in ensuring the protection of rights in increasingly heterogeneous European societies, the veil controversy could move towards a better resolution via legal and policy approaches to rights as being interdependent rather than hierarchical, reflecting the intersectional nature of the debate.

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  1. Law Faculty, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Colleen Boland

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  1. Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Brixen, Bolzano, Italy

    Annemarie Profanter

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy

    Elena Maestri

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Boland, C. (2021). The Veil as Perceived and Real Boundary for Spanish Muslim Youth: Case by Case Regulation in Light of Discrimination and Individual Rights Claims. In: Profanter, A., Maestri, E. (eds) Migration and Integration Challenges of Muslim Immigrants in Europe. Politics of Citizenship and Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75626-0_6

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