Discrimination in the Hijab Ban Policy of the 2024 Paris Olympics
A Postcolonial Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63088/tt9xq544Keywords:
Laïcité, Hijab, Discrimination, Paris 2024 Olympics, PostcolonialismAbstract
Purpose: To explain how French national and the 2024 Paris Olympic policies are inconsistent with human rights principles leading to public criticism in the Postcolonial analysis framework
Methods: The research was employed qualitative approach designed into a case study to focus on the meaning understanding, representation, and power relations included into the policy of Hijab Ban of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Secondary data that are publicly available and verifiable applied in the research, namely policy document, media news, and various studies were collected through a systemic literature study which involved identifying, selecting, and organizing text related to the hijab ban policy. The analysis data was done by applying thematic analysis combined with a postcolonialism analytical lens.
Results: The findings show that the inconsistency of French national and the 2024 Paris Olympic policies regarding the ban on hijabs includes differences in impact on French and foreign athletes, conflicts between international and domestic law, lack of proportionality in restrictions, and human rights implications.
Conclusions: The inconsistency of laicite in the context of the 2024 Paris Olympics reveals four points namely claims of neutrality often hide symbolic power operations rooted in history, differences in treatment between French and foreign athletes reveal a protectionist logic of national identity that marginalizes a vulnerable group of citizens, arguments about policy necessity are based on weak evidence and rely more on security discourse laden with colonial influences, and the impact of these policies is the reproduction of complex structural inequalities based on gender, racialization, and colonial legacies.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Mohamad Dziqie Aulia Al Farauqi, Affani Andreana Safitri, Muhammad Agung Nugroho, Anita Shalehah
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