Austria Bans Headscarves for Girls Under 14 – New Law Put to the Test

As Austrian schools now reopen, the country’s new ban on headscarves for girls under 14 comes into effect. The government claims the law will strengthen girls’ freedom, but the nation’s largest Muslim organization accuses the state of discrimination and is preparing a legal battle.

Austria has introduced a ban on wearing the Muslim headscarf in schools for pupils under the age of 14. As the autumn term starts in cities including Vienna, it will be the first time the new law is tested in practice.

The ban is being pushed by Austria’s coalition government, made up of three centrist parties. The government has justified the reform by stating that girls should be protected from religious and social pressure and be given greater opportunity to shape their own lives.

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The law was passed in parliament in December with support from the right-wing nationalist Freedom Party, FPÖ. The only party to vote against it was the Greens, the smallest party in parliament.

But the reform has met fierce resistance from the Muslim community. The Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich (IGGÖ), the official representative of the country’s Muslims, argues that the ban interferes with fundamental rights and plans to take the case to Austria’s constitutional court.

Previous Ban Was Overturned

There is also a clear legal background to the conflict. In 2020, Austria’s constitutional court overturned a previous ban on the headscarf for girls under ten years old. The court then held that the rules discriminated against Muslim pupils and that the state must remain religiously neutral unless there are special reasons to justify an exception.

The new law is therefore designed in an attempt to withstand future constitutional review. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr has emphasized that the government has worked intensely on the text of the law and legal considerations.

At the same time, it is far from certain that the issue is settled. When Wiederkehr was recently asked whether the constitutional court would approve the law, he admitted that one can never be completely sure.

The Left Protests

The law does not mean pupils are immediately fined whenever they wear a headscarf. If a student breaks the rules, the school must first hold a conversation with the student. Subsequently, fines between 150 and 800 euros may be considered.

Meanwhile, opponents are mobilizing. Left-leaning student organizations have called for protests against the ban as the new term gets underway.

Thus, a fundamental conflict looms over where the line is drawn between freedom of religion and the state’s right to act against religious expressions in schools – and, not least, whether the state can justify a special ban on the grounds of the freedom of underage girls.