Wednesday, April 23
Could Berlin drop its headscarf ban?
The so-called neutrality law in Germany has always been controversial. Introduced in 2005, its apparent aim was to bar state representatives such as police officers, teachers and civil servants from wearing visible religious or ideological symbols while on duty. But it contained some curious exceptions. The law prevented Muslim women from wearing headscarves, or Jewish men from wearing yarmulkes, but continued to allow the wearing of crucifix necklaces. Furthermore, although it claimed to preserve state neutrality, it permitted wall-hangings — meaning that while a hijab might be banned in a courtroom, a wooden cross on the wall would be allowed. In essence, then, it legally affirmed what it claimed to avoid, enshrining in law Germany’s self-image as Christian country and positioning that religion as “neutral”, while treating any deviation as abnormal and impermissible.
Following a series of legal challenges, Berlin did change its policy in 2023: school administrators are no longer allowed to ban Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves. But now the Green Party is calling on Berlin to lift the ban for police officers, female civil servants and members of the judiciary as well.
“Highly qualified women are not allowed to practise their profession because they wear a headscarf. That’s a problem,” Green Party politician Tuba Bozkurt told the Tagesspiegel. But will they get their way? It appears unlikely that the ruling CDU/SPD coalition would support such a move. In fact, the Berlin state government only relented on the issue of teachers in 2023, after being forced to pay damages to a Muslim woman who was denied a position specifically because she wore a headscarf.
