Canadian feminists opposed to faith-based arbitration invoked French secularism as feminist progress

Evidence

Following the line of argument expressed by WLUML, some Canadian feminists opposed to faith-based arbitration articulated a fervent belief in secularism and a commitment to the position that multiculturalism was bad for women. For instance, they spoke glowingly of the French context, where the hijab, or headscarf, was recently banned in schools. (The presence of French-speaking feminists in some of the more vocal feminist organizations may have accounted for the multiple references to the French context.) Secularism in France was represented as historical progress, the triumph of universalism over class and religious conflict. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 353

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects to the reader’s published essay on cross-cultural moral panics over immodest dress, which includes the French hijab ban context.
• ADDENDUM: Supporting material for ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — shows how the French hijab ban was actively weaponized by Canadian feminists as an anti-multiculturalism precedent.