The Stasi Commission framed the hijab as a symbol of female subordination

Evidence

This committee, called the Stasi Commission, found that “whereas the secularity of public life has long since been recognized in the religious traditions of Europe, in the Commission’s view Islamic scarves express a tendency towards religious isolation… . As symbols of the traditional subordination of women in the Islamic world, they impede the development of girls as autonomous persons. The command to wear headscarves in public exudes from the traditional ideal of female chastity that puts women under lifelong control of men.” — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 807

Categorization

• DEFINE: Primary documentary evidence of how the French state rationalized the ban — the commission’s exact language showing the Orientalist framing.