Back to school: Muslim girls battle France’s abaya ban

French students returned to class facing yet another battle over what some Muslim girls are choosing to wear. This time, it is the abaya – a long, loose-fitting dress. Dozens of students were sent home after nearly 300 showed up on the first day of classes in abayas. French women have been here for a while now: head coverings, including the hijab, were first banned in public schools back in 2004. So, how will this latest ban affect Muslim students and communities today?

In this episode: 

• Loubna Reguig (@loubnasays), national president of the Muslim Students of France

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Sonia Bhagat, Chloe K. Li and our host Malika Bilal. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera AlDosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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