The Experiences of Face Veil Wearers in Europe and the Law

This book studies the experiences of face veil wearers in Europe and examines the ramifications of the empirical findings for legislative agendas.

This groundbreaking work outlines the findings of the first empirical studies of the experiences of women who wear the Islamic face veil across Europe. Expert scholars subsequently engage with the findings and explore their impact on the wider debate surrounding the veil and efforts to ban it.One of the most remarkable aspects pertaining to the legal bans and societal debates on the face veil in Europe is that they rely on assumptions which lack any factual basis. To rectify this, Eva Brems researched the experiences of women who wear a face veil in Belgium and brought her research results together with those of colleagues who did the same in four other European countries. Their findings, which are outlined in this volume, move the current discussion on face veil bans forward by providing a much-needed insider perspective. In addition, a number of legal and social science scholars comment on the empirical findings and on the face veil issue more generally.