[Catherine Louveau, sociologist, Professor Emeritus of Universities
Annie Sugier, President of the International Women's Rights League]

Text originally published in the journal Quel Sport?, n° 35/36 (“The reign of sport. Maintaining sporting order”), May 2021, pp. 131-156. See the site: http://www.quelsport.org/les-numeros/quel-sport-n-35-36/

Whatever its forms, practices and places of development, sport is praised for its virtues and its "values": educational, socializing, bearer of fraternity and peace, it is also described as a "big family", a world of reference where we are "all equal" (metaphor of the starting line). The established sports movement is based on these reiterated values, first and foremost the "universality" of sport. The IOC has more countries/nations within it than the UN: 206 countries are members for 193 member states while 197 country-states are recognized at the UN. It remains to be seen whether the notion of universality is understood simply as the gathering of athletes of all origins or more ideally as the requirement to respect universal principles. 

Reading the Olympic Charter removes any ambiguity in this regard. The principle of universality, repeated ad nauseam historically, clearly figures among its "fundamental principles".¹. According to'Article 4 : "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the opportunity to practice sport without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding, the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."Article 6 precise : "The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognised in this Olympic Charter shall be ensured without discrimination of any kind, in particular on the grounds of race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."Article 7 insists: "Membership in the Olympic Movement requires respect for the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC." Furthermore, sport is supposed to be a space-time of neutrality, as Article 50 of this Olympic Charter has long indicated. ². We read in fact at theArticle 50.2: Advertising, demonstrations, propaganda :"No kind of political, religious or racial demonstration or propaganda is permitted in any Olympic venue, site or other location."

Under the guise of universality, respect for human rights, health for all and more recently for all, "fraternity" and socialization/integration, sport, and the Olympic Games in particular, are considered a major space-time which presents conditions conducive to putting forward so-called egalitarian ideals or so-called such. Having long been established as a model of equality, sport would be emancipatory in principle, a fortiori for women, all women. 

What do we observe regarding the neutrality required in sport?

First, on the political level. Well after the Berlin Olympics in 1936, which served Nazi ideology but encountered little opposition³, many situations involving sport and politics have given rise to decisions and even sanctions by the IOC: the lifetime exclusion of black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos from the 1968 Mexico Olympics for raising their black-gloved fists during the medal ceremony, in solidarity with Black Power; exclusion for 30 years (1962-1992) from the South African National Olympic Committee due to the system of racial apartheid in force in the country; the ban on French athletes, during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, from wearing a “For a Better World” badge intended to affirm their attachment to humanist values. Finally, with regard to religious aspects, the refusal to postpone the date of the London Olympics, which were to take place during the Ramadan period., while 25% of athletes are Muslim. The IOC thus reaffirmed that they are "apolitical and areligious". 

One aspect of these "exceptions" to the principle of religious neutrality remains a lasting "blind spot" in the sports institution and political action. The 1990s saw the appearance and then the multiplication of veiled women on sports fields, in particular during the Olympic Games. This presence is propagandistic by the demands it implies and the model conveyed, but it remains unthought of, if not denied, as an interference of religion/politics in sport. Unthought of because hidden by the project of universality of the presence of women on the fields. The IOC makes the universal participation of girls and women a clearly affirmed line of development in recent decades⁴. That all women of all origins participate in the Olympic Games is a stated and repeated objective. Should this happen regardless of the conditions set? Even if it means that the IOC completely deviates from its own principles, which are nevertheless set in stone in the Olympic Charter.

In France, awareness of the link between religious excesses and sport, and more particularly between Islamist radicalization and sporting institutions will be very late. It will be necessary to wait until October 2015 when the press echoes a confidential note from the territorial intelligence service (SCRT) revealing that amateur sport has become a vector of communitarianism and radicalism. Indeed, there is a presence of potential terrorists coming to train in clubs or taking charge of the running of clubs and sports halls that serve as training camps for the "soldiers of the Caliphate". No discipline would be safe according to Patrick Karam, vice-president of the Île de France region and general inspector of Youth and Sports. "While not all radicalized people are athletes," he explains, "all those who have taken action, almost all those who have committed attacks, were in a sports club."⁵. Sport – sporting institutions and practices – is one of the prime targets of Islamic infiltration and Islamist radicalization. The facts prove it and are irrefutable.⁶.

This aspect of religious interference in the world of sport is the most worrying in the eyes of the public authorities because it is associated with the increased risk of terrorism. Other signs, such as the wearing of the Islamic veil, are not taken seriously. This is to forget that the two phenomena are linked to the extent that Islamism at war jihad against the unbelievers, infidels, apostates and other "hounds of hell" according to the terminology of the Salafist Imams feeds on the rejection of the secular, democratic, egalitarian and mixed society to replace it with a segregationist society supposedly superior to the Western materialist model. 

How did the female Islamist sports model become established?

The 1992 Barcelona Olympics allowed us to establish an observation: 35 delegations were exclusively male. This is the Atlanta+ Committee⁷ who denounces this situation and asks the IOC to exclude from the future Games (1996) delegations practicing "institutionalized segregation of women"⁸, in the name, precisely, of non-discrimination enshrined in Article 6 of the Olympic Charter (see above). At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, 26 countries still did not present women, there were "only" 6 in Sydney in 2000. It is only since the London Games in 2012 that all federations have displayed mixed compositions: the last countries to have included women in their delegations at the Olympics were Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia. 

Since the early 1990s, there have been increasing "breaches" of "usual" sportswear and Article 50 of the Olympic Charter. The demand for real participation Universal women at the Olympics will close like a trap...

The IOC opened the breach in 1996 by authorizing an Iranian rifle shooter, Lida Fariman, to parade veiled during the opening ceremony. In 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, Rakia al-Gassra was one of the first women to represent Bahrain: she was dressed in underpants, a long-sleeved top and her headscarf. Another Iranian shooter, Nassim Hassan, was present at these same Olympics. JUntil 1996, the question of the Islamic headscarf did not arise. The pioneers of the Maghreb respected Olympic law: at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, the Moroccan Nawal El Moutawakel entered history as the first Arab and Muslim athlete to win a gold medal by taking the title in the 400 m hurdles. She ran with bare legs and arms, like the other athletes. At the Barcelona Games in 1992, the middle-distance runner Hassiba Boulmerka was the first Algerian athlete to bring home a gold medal for her country. She would also be a double world champion in the 1500 meters. Then threatened by the fundamentalists, she replied that it would not occur to her to enter a mosque in shorts, but that on an athletics track, she respected the rules. She would have to train abroad. Lida Fariman is therefore the first Iranian woman to participate in the Olympic Games since the advent of Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Before this date, unveiled Iranian women competed in the Olympic Games, in "usual" sports attire. The participation of sportswomen from these countries applying the principles of Sharia⁹ is still very low at the turn of the 2000s. Indeed, from 1993 to 2005, Iran organized the "Islamic Games" for women only (4 editions will take place). They compete wearing clothing that complies with the requirements of their country, with the approval of the IOC. In 2005, the president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, will send a message of congratulations. To the point that the American Anita De Frantz, member of the IOC, already sees these Games as "a step [by Muslim women] towards the Olympic Games". Bringing them here and integrating them into the only recognized Olympic Games becomes the essential thing: their coming would be "a sign of emancipation" for them. It is therefore with the benevolent support of the IOC that Iran has implemented, for almost 20 years, a gender apartheid in these competitions labelled by the highest sports authority which at the same time prohibits, in its regulations, any religious symbol on the fields... A separatism which does not say its name is, in doing so, ratified. 

Through pressure, Iran managed to impose the headscarf on football pitches. In 2010, at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, Iran plans to send a fully veiled women's football team.¹⁰. Initially, FIFA excluded them, in application of Law 4 relating to the equipment of players regardless of gender, which prohibits wearing any "political, religious or personal message". Finally, Iranian women footballers were allowed to play with "a head covering covering the players' heads up to the hairline, not extending below the ears and not covering the nape of the neck."¹¹In 2011, during the qualifying events for the London Olympics, FIFA faced a new test of strength from Iran, which refused to respect the 2010 compromise. This time, Iran won its case.

A more than symbolic date for a sport as popular as football: Thursday, July 5, 2012, the IFAB (International Football Association Board), the regulatory body for football¹² authorizes the wearing of hijab on the pitch. Prince Ali Ibn Al-Hussein, brother of the King of Jordan and vice-president of FIFA, is the architect of this turnaround. The headscarf is not a "religious" symbol, but a "cultural" one, according to him. An argument that convinced the IFAB executive board to authorize it. This moment marks a decisive turn: it announces the capitulation of international sports authorities (IOC, international federations, etc.) thanks to a denial that is as astonishing as it is uncontested: the veil is only a common, traditional garment. However, many personalities and sportswomen from around the world, including Muslims, attest that wearing the veil (headscarf, hijab, burka) is indeed a religious symbol.

At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, 14 delegations paraded with veiled athletes. At the same time, the badge "For a better world" (a phrase taken from the Olympic Charter) that French athletes wanted to wear in defense of human rights was banned. IOC President Jacques Rogge then recalled the basic principles of freedom of expression: "Athletes can criticize China freely in their country, in China in public places, in mixed zones. We simply ask them not to make political, religious, commercial or racial propaganda or demonstration on the sites. The Olympic Village contains 205 national committees. There are several countries that are in military and religious conflict. If we allow propaganda demonstrations in the Olympic Village or the sites, it is the end of Olympic harmony." "We will have to consider sanctions ranging from a warning to disciplinary proceedings," said the IOC president.¹³.

The display is clear: rule 50 of the IOC becomes, in Beijing, that of the Two weights, two measures… The wearing of the veil questions governance and the Olympic movement much less – if at all – than the political aspects. A bit as if women were worth less than men… since this article of the Charter still stipulates that “no kind of demonstration or propaganda policy, religious or racial discrimination is not permitted." 

The proponents of the female islamist sports model have not hidden their desire to promote a segregationist model. Thus the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated during the opening ceremony of the Women's Islamic Solidarity Games in 1993: "It is appropriate to preserve the purity of women, and, according to the teaching of Islam, to avoid the corruption that can arise from the simultaneous presence of men and women in the same space."¹⁴. Such conditions are undoubtedly a form of apartheid. This has not prevented international organisations responsible for sport, such as the Council of Europe, from presenting as " bonnes pratiques ", with regard to gender equality in sport, "adaptation to the needs of women", taking into account in particular "specific ethnocultural and/or religious characteristics (separate spaces, specific time slots, wearing the veil, etc.)"¹⁵. This is also the case of the international women and sport networks which promote the “Declaration: Accept and Respect”: “We urge international sports federations to demonstrate their commitment to integration by ensuring that their dress code for competitions meets Muslim requirements”¹⁶The Sports Ministers who meet regularly will follow suit in 2013 with the “Berlin Declaration”. » to UNESCO¹⁷ which emphasizes the need to take into account " cultural specificities, especially for women and girls (§ 1.25). Finally, the revision of the 1978 Charter will follow, with UNESCO taking up these recommendations " Women and girls must be provided with inclusive, tailored opportunities » (article 1.3)¹⁸.

And in France? Claims and “exceptions”

Since the turn of the 2000s, we have observed in France the increasingly frequent arrival of veiled girls and women on sports fields (training and competitions). We will mention a few examples because the scale of the facts is impossible to evaluate, there is no inventory (by sport or region or other) only observations, at best press articles (in the regional daily press most often and on so-called social networks). The separation of the sexes, women on one side men on the other, structurally organizes the spaces and leisure activities and especially sports of women and men in many Islamic theocracies¹⁹. From a so-called "desire to escape the gaze of men", by meeting only among women, fitness rooms and swimming pools have been particularly invested by these separatist demands. In Lille, Martine Aubry plays the role of "pioneer": in 2000, a social center demanded a schedule for a group of women, mainly North African, and female staff. The lifeguards and maintenance men had to leave the pool. The town hall agreed. In 2003, when a controversy developed, with elected officials putting forward "the derogatory nature of the republican practices of equality and diversity" of this reserved schedule, Martine Aubry explains in Mayor info : "These women need a place to meet, to discuss," the mayor pleads to the opposition elected officials who are protesting. "Let's take a little detour (from our republican principles) so that these women win and acquire their emancipation," adds the mayor of Lille.²⁰. Lille is setting a precedent… However, without us being able to establish a serious inventory to date. The city of Sarcelles also set up these “women’s” hours in 2013 at the request of a religious group. In many other municipalities²¹ These community slots would be considered or announced, but it is said, for some of these “projects”, that this is “false information”…

This question of the wearing of the veil by female players and/or their coaches appears in many other sports disciplines, particularly team sports. In 2013, a journalist from Point reports a situation in basketball: "Four young Muslim women from the basketball team in the Ronceray-Glonnières district of Le Mans trained and played matches wearing the veil. Since the start of the school year, Muslim basketball players aged 14 to 21 have been trying to reconcile their sporting practice and their religious beliefs. Playing on the women's team, these young girls took the initiative to play veiled. To be more precise, they decided to cover their bodies according to the recommendations of their religion: a T-shirt to cover their arms, tights to hide their legs and a headscarf to cover their heads. Of course, the France is a secular country where everyone can freely practice their religion, but on a basketball court, there is no religion, no gender, no difference or affiliation, except for a jersey. The Federation is uncompromising: France applies the international regulations. And these do not authorize the wearing of a veil… We understand that these young girls want to respect their religion, but, on a court, whether a player is Catholic, Muslim or Jewish, the rules have absolutely nothing to do with it. If a person wants to play, they must comply with the rules of the game. […] During an official match, basketball players are therefore not allowed to wear a headscarf or bandana, or tights and t-shirts which are not protective. […] The veil represents a major risk for the safety of these young girls. Indeed, they can strangle themselves with the headscarf and run the risk of being involuntarily strangled by an opponent. These potential dangers, whether minimal or not, are real. The Basketball Federation cannot tolerate the risk that one day a young girl will seriously injure herself or put her life in danger for a question of religion that has no place on a court. The Sarthe departmental committee supports this initiative. The Basketball Federation has not made an official statement. Note that FIFA authorized the wearing of the veil in July 2012 in official football competitions, but that The French Football Federation, on the other hand, opposed it.²² ". The journalist's presentation of the situation is both precise and embarrassed, invoking the question of secularism in France and especially the regulations of the Basketball Federation concerning outfits. The argument particularly highlights the security issues justifying the bans... But ultimately, the journalist mentions the disagreements and even the inconsistencies of the positions of the various sports bodies concerning the wearing of the veil on the fields.

In 2013, we can observe that reading the situations is at the very least complex for journalists as well as for sports and political management, while the international and national Federations are openly divided (FIFA versus FFF, IOC in contradiction with itself…), a fortiori in a country like France, the only country in the world to have promulgated the law implying the neutrality of the State, that is to say the separation of public institutions and religious organizations²³.

Another example in the same year 2013: the Quiberon sailing school (ENVSN) received a team of young women from the Sultanate of Oman for training. The aim was to "train the first professional female regatta sailors in the Sultanate". The newspaper Le Télégramme presents this event with a photo showing the 6 young women all veiled with the following text: "This feminization of the selection was not without problems. Indeed, families would not let their daughters practice sailing supervised by a man. So, to detect young talents, high-level female personnel are needed. When we talk about the weight of traditions, all are unanimous: "Do not focus on details or derogatory comments. because in all cultures there is always reluctance when things change”²⁴. The log indicates the constraints sine qua non having weighed on the organization of this training: supervision only by women and compulsory wearing of the veil in all places including on boats, constraints that these young women apparently brush aside with a wave of the hand. Questioning about these imperatives would be unpleasant or even critical for them? The Departmental Committee for Women's Rights in Morbihan, sent an open letter to the director of the establishment, emphasizing that "to describe as “derogatory details or comments”, which would be the weight of traditions, [them] challenged and even outraged them”. Recalling that “secularism is a primary principle of our Republic, applied in all its schools since the law of 1905”, they say they wonder: “is the National Sailing and Water Sports School outside French law? Or are the newspaper’s statements devoid of reality? We have been fighting for women’s freedom and equality in France for over a century, including in sport,” they add, “water sports are part of these conquests. For us, sport is a space of freedom, and a means of emancipation, for all girls and all women. We cannot accept what the veil says”. This situation is apparently not perceived as problematic within a National Public Establishment in France…

This is not the opinion of Jean Philippe Acensi, General Delegate of the Agency for Education through Sport, who estimated in the summer of 2012 that " The veil threatens the universality of sport ". "The decision of the International Federation of Football association (FIFA) ofto allow women at porter le Sheer in competition official, a few days before the opening of the Jeux Olympiques (London Olympics) is a historic, exceptional and unprecedented measure which must be pouvoir measure the scope, particularly on living together in our cities, particularly in France. At the same time, the first participation of a Saudi athlete in these Olympic Games shows a strong desire in the Arab world to propose, orimpose, another social project through the Sports and women. These major events will have certain repercussions, both in sports practices and in public spaces (associations, schools, etc.) and on the very condition of women."²⁵.

Since 2012, in fact, demands for separate spaces and the wearing of the veil with an outfit covering the body have become more numerous and more visible in France, penetrating all sports fields and spaces. Pointing to the reserved times in swimming pools, secularism actors consider that here appears the prospect and even the will of a separatism that does not say its name.

The case of football: the FFF applies the rule of neutrality

In Iran, until the Islamic revolution of 1979, women played football dressed like all their counterparts in other countries of the world: bareheaded, in sportswear long-sleeved jersey, shorts, high socks. (photos ??? Iranian female footballers before and after 79)

In July 2012, the French Federation of Football (FFF) prohibits its own licensees from wearing the veil authorized the day before by the International Federation (FIFA), a decision that has fueled unease around the sensitive issue of secularism in France. "With regard to the participation of French national teams in international competitions, as well as the organization of national competitions, the FFF reiterates its concern"to respect the constitutional and legislative principles of secularism” which prevail in our country. Under these conditions, it does not authorize players to wear the veil," reacted the FFF the day after FIFA's announcement.²⁶The French Federation and the League recall the ban on all religious symbols on all grounds in France.

The decision to authorize the wearing of the veil by female footballers, announced in 2012, was legally ratified in 2014²⁷ : "An experiment was conducted and the decision was still to be made. It was confirmed: female players can have their heads covered to play", FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke of France said at a press conference in Zurich. "It was a request that came from a group of countries and a group of players who said that it would contribute to the development of football and that was the main argument that pushed the IFAB to say yes."²⁸In France, the president of the Professional Football League (LFP), Frédéric Thiriez, spoke of a "serious mistake", after the authorization of wearing the veil in football. "I deplore FIFA's decision, which undermines the principle of the universality of football, according to which all players are subject to the same rules and the same playing conditions.". "While the Olympic charter excludes any religious symbol, this authorization goes against women's rights and threatens the neutrality of a football preserved from religious and political quarrels." In 2014, he repeated his opposition to the wearing of the veil on football pitches in a different register than the neutrality of sport, women's rights. "Allowing the veil in football is contempt for women" dit-il. He wants sport and politics to be separated and he condemns FIFA's decision : "The dignity of women should not allow international blessing to be given to what is, in essence, only an outward sign of submission to man. »²⁹.

The debate continues within the secular camp itself, with supporters of an "open" secularism pointing out that secularism only applies to public service agents, in this case the supervision provided by the staff of public service delegated federations, and not to people who practice a sport.

France is presented as backward, discriminatory; anyone who bans veiled women from sports fields is labeled anti-feminist and Islamophobic. Criticism rains down on those whom some consider to be supporters of an “exclusionary secularism.” This is the term used, among others, by the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), while a club bringing together young footballers challenged the Minister of Sports in 2013.³⁰: "The Paris Athletic Club, one of the oldest clubs in the capital with 800 members and a football school for 350 children, is sending a letter to Valérie Fourneyron, the Minister of Sports, to obtain that the Charter of Secularism be adapted to football schools.³¹ This request for extension of the Charter of the secularism displayed in schools, is motivated by the observation of a certain number of behaviors interpreted as worrying signs of excesses according to the president of the club, François Gonzales. He declared: “I start from a principle, prevention is better than cure. When children are on the field there must be no sign of religion”. Considerations defended by Jeannette Boughrab, former director of the HALDE, winner last October of the national secularism prize and who under Sarkozy held the position of Secretary of State for Youth. : “We have no choice. In recent years, we have seen new phenomena appear, particularly during Ramadan, where some players do not want to play. The issue of locker rooms too, where some boys do not want to shower naked, so we shower in our underwear. We recently saw a basketball team claim victory because some young girls could now play with a headscarf, or some coaches who do not want to coach girls”. […] There is a whole series of events that should have led us much earlier to react to the rise of communitarianism or a radical reading of religion”. Some are outraged by pointing out a tolerance of the practice with variable geometry therefore according to religions and a demonization of behaviors or practices that come from a religious practice such as fasting or modesty that are passed off as signs of communitarianism and religious extremism. Rhetoric that has become classic for the defenders of an extension of the secularism of exclusion based on an increasingly discriminatory and liberticidal legal arsenal and that we want to extend to more and more areas of the social, including in sport. The CCIF wishes to firmly denounce this new attempt to extend a secularism diverted from its meaning and used as a weapon of mass exclusion in the context of sporting activities whose purpose is precisely to teach people how to live together by conveying values ​​of respect and tolerance.³² ».

The FIFA vs. FFF opposition continues: "The threats from Sepp Blatter, who recently made it known that the French Football Federation must comply with the rules set by FIFA, will not change anything. On the eve of the Coupe de France final, Noël Le Graët once again repeated on BFM that it was out of the question for women to be able to play with the veil on our territory, and the head of the FFF defended his position very firmly. "France and Western European countries in general have evolved. There are no religious symbols on the pitches and I think women are happy to play football. We don't want to go back.", clearly indicated the president of the French Football Federation, who has the support of elected officials in our country, and in particular the Minister of Sports³³, but which still risks coming up against the texts that bind the FFF to FIFA. However, we can assume that Sepp Blatter will not really go beyond verbal threats, the head of the world body probably being well aware that this subject was very high risk. Now, what will happen if a female footballer shows up veiled at a match in France? ³⁴.

The 2010s saw an increase in conflicts concerning demands/authorizations/exemptions for wearing the veil in football and other sports. Associations, clubs, and even coaches wanted to rely on FIFA regulations on French fields, while the FFF wanted to stick to its rules. A contradictory and very tense situation that opened a loophole for those who were determined to circumvent the regulations applied in France... In 2017 and the years that followed, the pressure increased and the increasingly publicized conflicts were seized upon by politicians.

This is the case in this "exemplary" situation involving not sportswomen but a female coach. In April 2017, the newspaper La Croix title " The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Football League has ordered Essia Aouini, the coach of a team of under-13 girls, to remove her headscarf.. Will they forfeit? ?³⁵». The Observatory of Secularism³⁶ was seized of the case. "It's a small tournament, involving pre-teens playing in an amateur club. If we're talking about it, it's because a case concerning one of its educators could have “consequences for hundreds of thousands of people”, indicates Nicolas Cadène, general rapporteur of the Observatory. The cause is the veil worn by this coach of the AS Surieux team, an amateur club with 180 members located in Echirolles (Isère). On April 21, the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Football League notified the club that Essia Aouini had to remove it if she wanted to be on the sidelines on the day of the Rhône-Alpes Cup final. “Why so late ? she wonders. Since the start of the season, while we play competitively every Saturday, neither the opposing clubs nor the referees have ever made any comments about my outfit”Whatever happens, the volunteer trainer has no intention of removing her veil. “Not for a football match, she says. The club board and the kids support me in my decision.” “We don’t want to go against the rules or rewrite the law. But it’s not applied to professional players who cross themselves or bow on the pitch, believes Amar Benguedouar, president of AS Surieux. And then you can't do that to us when we reach the final of a competition."³⁷ ».

The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Football League bases his decision on the statutes of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes League, inspired by those of the French Football Federation (FFF). The first article states that "any wearing of a sign or clothing which ostentatiously demonstrates political, philosophical, religious or union affiliation is prohibited during competitions or events organized on the territory of the Federation or in connection with these." The conflict does not end there. A first doubt concerns the article mentioned by the League: "It applies primarily to the players", believes Nicolas Cadène. For him, the main question asked is "“to know if the public service mission delegated to the FFF is then delegated to the League, then to amateur clubs”. In which case, strict neutrality would apply. […] Regularly confronted with the question of respect for secularism, hostile to FIFA's decision in 2014 to authorize the wearing of the Islamic veil on the pitch, the FFF seems to want to temporize. And for good reason, the decision will then apply “to all religious symbols, including the most discreet, down to the smallest amateur village or neighborhood club”, warns Nicolas Cadène³⁸ ».

If the young woman were to comply with the League's request, she indicated to La Croix that his team will forfeit. "Associations approached me, suggesting that I still run with the veil on my head to change things.", slips Essia Aouini, who does not intend to follow up for the moment. The President (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council, Laurent Wauquiez has also taken up the matter. He announced on Wednesday April 26 his intention to condition “any agreement to strict respect for secularism and the refusal of any form of communitarianism in the actions carried out by these structures”³⁹ ».

This trainer clearly says that she was influenced by "associations" inviting her to appear with her veil "to change things". This demand will now give rise to real lobbying, carried out if not initiated by known groups/collectives and will even integrate into them.

In 2021, the pro-veiling offensive continues, explicitly targeting the FFF, which has so far been able to resist and has included Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter in its internal regulations. On March 20 of this year, 2021, the BondyBlog posted a video on Twitter of two young veiled women demanding "the right" to play football. A commentary accompanies the film: "Because they wear the veil, these football players are banned from competition by the FFF, while the hijab is allowed on fields around the world. The Hijabeuses give their all on and off the field to achieve their dream: to play in an official match in France. With their veil, the Hijabeuses fight to play football. For a year, the Hijabeuses have been fighting to be able to play in official competitions. While FIFA has authorized the veil on the field since 2014, the French Football Federation refuses it.⁴⁰.

Founé and Bouchra are the two Hijabeuses players who are denouncing this situation. They are not unknown players. The Women's World Cup that took place in France in July 2019 apparently serves as a stepping stone for them: "If our blues popularized women's football last year during the World Cup, there is still a long way to go before everyone can play this sport fairly. To have their place on the field, veiled women are setting up the collective Les Hijabeuses together," says a journalist.⁴¹. Recalling FIFA's decision in 2014, she expressed surprise: "We have never seen a veiled woman during a match in France." However, she recalled the reference rule that led the FFF to "prevent" the presence of veiled women on the pitch: "It is contrary to the principle of secularism," she wrote, since the rules of the game "do not allow players to wear signs or clothing that ostentatiously demonstrate political, philosophical, religious or union affiliation." Regardless, the journalist took the side of the Hijabeuses, mentioning "a sports policy repressive " and further "a policy discriminating ⁴² that the FFF chooses to ban women from wearing the hijab to participate in competitions." To respond to this, Hayat, Founé and all the others wrote a column entitled "Our favorite sport, My hijab, Our freedom to all." This platform is a way for them to "denounce these you will have to do so by using that they undergo as Muslims ". At this time in June 2020, "the collective Les Hijabeuses pour proclaimer leurs droits et libertés!" launched a propaganda campaign. They wanted to "call on the FFF to change its practices". The pressure would indeed increase against the FFF in a sustained campaign and even supported, here by the newspaper Paulette very partisan, which mentions in this article of "launch"⁴³ Hijabeuses’ contact details: “ Go to their account Instagram to give them your support and come and support them in matches…”. In July 2020, they denounced on a news site about Morocco and Moroccans "the discrimination of which they are victims »⁴⁴. Founé Diawara is presented as a "footballer and co-founder of the collective". On Twitter, they invite to their founding assembly on July 12, 2020⁴⁵.

The Hijabeuses create their “union” within Alliance Citoyenne, an association created in Grenoble in December 2012, "leading citizen questions against social and environmental injustices that affect them." The " Rights of religious minorities and persons with disabilities " is among their areas of action. "At the end of 2017, Muslims from Grenoble and Echirolles meet on the sidelines of a neighborhood assembly of the Alliance to complain about mistreatment related to their veil. In 2018, they set up a Muslim women's union within the Alliance to change the various situations of exclusion faced by those who wear the veil Sheer are confronted, and in 2019 [faced with the repeated refusals of the mayor of Grenoble to accept burkinis], they are leading actions of civil disobedience highly publicized nationally and internationally, sparking a public debate on the rights of Muslim women and criticism of the association. […] In 2020, the intolerant rule is still well established. Injustice thrives. Muslim female footballers founded the Hijabeuses union to make their voices heard and have their right to play football recognized. A coalition between the Citizens' Alliance, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France and the international association Women Win is being formed to support the group.⁴⁶.

At the same time, the newspaper Marianne publishes a “mood piece” by Samuel Piquet following a pro-sailing column on Clique.tv⁴⁷ : “In France, if you want to work or play sports with a veil, you would be immediately stigmatized. Fortunately, some media outlets are keeping watch… […] Founé, a 21-year-old student at Sciences Po Paris, recounts an episode that is supposed to chill the reader. “During a match, the referee forbade me from playing. I was in a state of incomprehension and I felt very ashamed. You are being singled out… Even my coach didn’t really support me [...] I couldn't do anything [...] so I kept my anger inside me"How can you not be shocked by the fact that a referee applies the rules?" asks the journalist.⁴⁸.

The FFF has not given in to FIFA's threats. Its president has always remained firm on the principle of neutrality enshrined in the federation's regulations. For some, it would therefore be "intolerant". Even the Observatory of Secularism has supported veiled female footballers.⁴⁹. In December 2020, the National Secular Collective expressed its support for the FFF in a letter containing the signatures of around thirty associations⁵⁰.

Media pressure remains strong, with many sites and media outlets opening their pages to the demands of the Hijabeuses. On January 20, 2021, the newspaper The Sportswomen is organizing a “webinar” entitled “ Women, racialized, veiled: a triple sanction for sportswomen ". The speakers are Maryse Ewanjé-Épée, former high-level athlete, journalist on RMC and author of "Révolte"; Pierre Samsonoff, deputy general director of the FFF in charge of amateur football; Bouchra.C, and Founé. D, members and founders of the Hijabeuses and Danya. D, rugby player. The journalist who leads this round table⁵¹ begins the session by mentioning "racist remarks" heard recently in the sports world⁵². She presents "sportswomen who are not allowed to play football with their veil" as " victims of racism ". Each sportswoman intervenes. As she was told that the veil in an official match is not possible, Bouchra had a medical certificate drawn up to wear a helmet (rugby type). She speaks of an "incident" regarding a manager who understood the "subterfuge" that made her take it off. Founé was told by her coach that "to enter the field she [had] to take off what she has on her head"; he says that she could take off "this piece of fabric to make her team win". "I have the right to play", "I want to keep my identity and my integrity" says one; "I just wanted to play football" says another. They say that the Hijabeuses want all women to be able to play football competitively; they are "just sportswomen who have their rights and their dreams taken away". The journalist and presenter compares them to men who can cross themselves and concludes: "So women are particularly discriminated against ».

They want to pass the request on to the FFF which "must take a clear position" they say. Maryse Ewanjé-Épée considers that "the FFF is in infraction compared to FIFA and the IOC." She compares the veil to the suit worn by Florence Griffith Joyner during a race and concludes in a rather surprising way: "If wearing the veil is religious propaganda, then black people must be banned to avoid this promotion." "Why does the FFF ban veiled women from football? Is it the FFF that dictates what an individual identity is?" suggests Béatrice Barbusse, part of the "audience" invited to the Round Table.

Faced with this protest front compiling arguments that are at the very least heterogeneous, the senior official of the FFF, Pierre Samsonoff, alone to represent the position of his federation in the face of 5 women who are in the camp of the "victims", is apparently embarrassed, and he will hold a line of response that is ultimately more than vague... "Yes, there is racism in football, but football is not a vector of racism"... "No, there is no discrimination based on gender at the FFF", "here we are talking about displaying convictions" (he does not say religious), "covering one's head on a football field is not forbidden... there are possible solutions"... "The federal position is to ban the veil... but not to ban covering one's head... We shouldn't have bothered you with this helmet..., it was discriminatory," he adds... Mejdaline Mhiri the host gets carried away: "Bouchra experienced discrimination based on appearance (helmet) so there is racism and discrimination.”

Not only does the Director General not respond to the request for a "clear position of the FFF"; he does not refer to the rule of his federation - the same as that of the IOC Charter and which is precisely very clear concerning neutrality on the field -, but he responds to these demands that all this can be discussed... As if he were giving the signs of a capitulation in progress?

Would not accepting veiled sportswomen on sports fields constitute “intolerance” and “discrimination”? 

It is interesting to pay attention to the terms used by these Hihabeuses and their supporters to designate and qualify their situation: forbidden, repressive policy, intolerance, discrimination, exclusion, the FFF in offense, stigmatization, victims of racism, my/our rights « as veiled women "," as Muslims ", the lexical field is particularly provided. But the use of negative words/slogans is not enough to demonstrate. These terms serve as support for arguments that can be said to be fallacious. 

First, regarding the register of their "reading" of the facts: their ban from the field because of their veil is presented in an emotional and personalized register and not through the prism of the collective, nor of the existing regulations in an institution, here the FFF, as it should be. They invoke "my passion", "my dream", "I just want to play football", that is to say their individual desire... which becomes "my right", "their right". Two "guests", however sociologists (Haïfa Tlili and Béatrice Barbusse), also outbid in this register invoking the veil as their " individual identity » register through which they claim to be victims of discrimination.

Discriminated against. The use of this term here is an abuse of language used to the point of exhaustion. It is easy to see its misuse. In light of French law specifying the conditions for legally constituting a discrimination⁵³, we cannot consider these footballers as such. While the word can be launched today as a denunciatory slogan, used to strike/challenge opinions or even consciences, implying a deprivation of freedom, the observer of the facts is not at all enlightened on the reasons for the opposition that these Hijabeuses encounter on the fields so much is their presentation a source of confusion. Especially since they would be at the same time "victims of racism". Discriminated against for their veil and "racialized" is the title of the webinar...

Another reading is necessary: ​​the total concealment in the complaints of these sportswomen of the reference to the rule: that of article 50 of the IOC, taken up by the FFF. A rule that they know while they indicate that the FFF "must take a clear position". They want the rule to be changed, aligned with that of FIFA. Knowing the rules perfectly, these sportswomen ban themselves from sports fields by coming there veiled. Since they refuse to comply with the rule that applies to everyone, they self-discriminate, so to speak... Regarding words (which we know "make things happen"), speaking of "Muslim women" as an alternative word to "veiled women" is just as misleading. On football fields in France, it is not their religion or their beliefs that are at issue⁵⁴, it is the veil, that is to say the ostentatious display of their religion on the field since the veil is religious and the regulations prohibit these signs on the fields. They are not discriminated against, they are just prevented from doing so since they do not respect the regulations. Any other interpretation is a deception.

The fact remains that today the pressure on the FFF is increasing. These veiled sportswomen benefit from numerous political and associative supports around a long-standing argument shared and carried by a majority of feminist movements: their emancipation. For more than a century of modern sport, THE sport has been consensually given as means of women's emancipation, it is one of the great myths of sport repeated ad nauseam.

Regarding veiled athletes, we can observe objective alliances regarding this so-called virtue of sport leading to the admission of reserved swimming times, the wearing of the Burkini, the acceptance of the veil on the fields. The "thesis" is supported by many elected officials across almost the entire political spectrum and even by ministers: "Within the French government, only the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu had taken a clear position for the sale of this type of clothing [a "sports hijab" by the Decathlon chain, in 2019]: "I want to reach out to women, mothers, young girls wherever they are and as they are, to encourage them to practice sport because it is, I am convinced, a powerful lever for emancipation" "⁵⁵In 2021, the wearing of the burkini should be accepted.⁵⁶. The argument of emancipatory sport is also supported by leaders (including women) in the world of sport, such as the IOC, national and international sports federations and of course educators, coaches, club leaders, etc. To emancipate oneself? Really? Here again, the term is an abuse of language... To emancipate oneself, in the primary sense, is it not to free oneself from authority, servitude, prejudices, but also from a state of dependence, domination, guardianship?

How can this argument be made for Iranian and Saudi sportswomen attending the Olympics?⁵⁷ Emancipated women, we know that this must include, everywhere in the world, civil rights (voting, etc.), and family rights, the right to inherit, to work, to drive, to dispose of one's body, etc. What is hailed as progress (that these women play sports in major international competitions but according to the conditions of a rigorous Islam) is in fact a regression if we think of Hassiba Boulmerka or Nawal El Moutawakel. In France, certain political figures, women and men, including ministers, are guilty of perpetuating this myth here.

While official or unofficial support is common in France, we also observe a negative reception of these demands by the Hijabeuses, a refusal to give in and not only within institutions claiming to be secular and gender equal. The video of the Hijabeuses on the BondyBLog gave rise to very critical tweets about them, to say the least unexpected on a blog promoting "diversity. They invited these veiled players to go and play in countries that allow these outfits, to respect neutrality on the fields, or denied them the status of victims.

And now ?

What paths and actions should be taken to combat these conservative offensives that denote more a submission of women than their emancipation? The fact that the IOC derogates from its own Charter (in a very "convenient" way as we have seen) has curiously not given rise to any known complaint. In fact, and as early as 1995, this first course of action was considered by the International Women's Law League via the Atlanta + Committee. After consulting two major law firms, this option was abandoned, the counsel consulted having identified as priorities the search for an athlete who was a victim of this type of discrimination who agreed to file a complaint against the IOC and the need to have substantial funds due to the importance of the legal analysis to be undertaken.

The second path, the one chosen by the Atlanta + Committee, was to lobby the IOC, the world of sport in general, feminist and secular movements, the media, politicians, via actions in host cities, publications, the creation of support networks at French and international level.

The choice of Paris to host the 2024 Olympic Games is an opportunity to mobilize the French sports world, but even more so the entire "civil" society including the political world, and this by emphasizing Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, that is to say the ban on religious symbols among other things on Olympic grounds, and in particular the veil for female athletes, made compulsory for them by many countries promoting gender apartheid. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter is a valuable tool, more powerful than secularism, because it can and must be applied in an international framework, and it concerns both the management and the athletes.

In the case of France, and if we want to be optimistic, we will say that these initiatives are all the more likely to be heard by politicians since the awareness by the public authorities of the role of sport in Islamist radicalization and the danger of Islamist separatism has led the government to present to Parliament a bill aimed at "strengthening republican principles", in which the control of sports federations is presented as an important element of the future action of the public authorities. During the examination of the bill by the Senate (at the time we are concluding this text), an amendment was voted which marks a real turning point, because it explicitly aims to " prohibit the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols (including the veil) when participating in sporting events and sports competitions organised by federations »⁵⁸The Senate thus confirms its desire to see strict neutrality respected in places where sports are practiced, as it did in July 2020 within the framework of the Commission of Inquiry into the Responses Provided by Public Authorities to the Development of Islamist Radicalization by adopting proposal no. 35: “ Introduce into the statutes of each federation the prohibition of any political, religious or racial demonstration, as provided for in article 50 of the Olympic Charter"⁵⁹. But the shuttle of the law to the National Assembly could cause this essential firmness to weaken or even topple over...

Notes

¹ Edition of September 15, 2017.

² Check IOC, Olympic Charter. Status in force as of September 15, 2017. Available in electronic version on the internet. The rule of abstention from political demonstrations appears explicitly in 1955, as for that which concerns religious demonstrations, it appears in 1975.

³ See Jean-Marie Brohm, 1936. The Olympic Games in Berlin (1983), Brussels, André Versaille publisher, 2008, 3^e edition.

⁴ "In London the Games of parity are almost done [...], President Rogge declared himself satisfied", France 24, July 12, 2012.

⁵ Pierre-Alexandre Conte, “Île-de-France wants to prevent radicalization by training the world of sport”, Lagazettedescommunes.com, December 5, 2017.

⁶ Citizens' initiative against the Islamization of sport, "The Islamization of sport, a worrying blind spot", Review of the Observatory of Decolonialism and Identity Ideologies, online on the site decolonialism.fr, April 2, 2021. See the hearing of Médéric Chapitaux, on January 29, 2020, by the Senate Commission of Inquiry "Combating Islamist Radicalization". Available online on the site Senat.fr.

⁷ Association created by the International Women's Rights League (LDIF).

⁸ Islamic theocracies are particularly numerous among these male delegations. See Annie Sugier, Linda Weil-Curiel, Gérard Biard, How Islamism has perverted Olympism, Paris, Chryséis Éditions, 2018.

⁹ In these countries, it is Islamic law that organizes all the individual and collective rights and duties of Muslims. It dictates criminal and public law.

¹⁰ “Women’s sport: the veil in question”, Elle.fr.

¹¹ Letter from President Blatter dated June 17, 2010 addressed to the President of the International Women's Law League.

¹² The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines and develops the rules of the game du Football. It is composed of representatives of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), and the four "pioneer" British football federations, the English federations, Scottish, Welsh et Northern Irish.

¹³ AFP, August 2, 2008. Our emphasis.

¹⁴ Check The first meeting: an illustrated report of the First Islamic country's women sports solidarity games, Tehran, February 1993.

¹⁵ https://edoc.coe.int/en/gender-equality/6957-gender-equality-in-sports.html

¹⁶ 1^er International Seminar on Improving the Inclusion of Muslim Girls and Women in Physical Activity, organized by Sultan Qaboos University and the International Association for the Development of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women (IAPESGW), Oman, 11-16 February 2008.

¹⁷ MINEPS V, 5^nd World Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials of Sport, 28-30 May 2013.

¹⁸ International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport, November 2015. 

¹⁹Annie Sugier, Linda Weil-Curiel, “The future of inclusion: is sport really universal?”, Modern Times, April-June 2018, pp 31-50. 

²⁰ "Martine Aubry justifies the allocation of a weekly hour reserved for Muslim women at the Lille-Sud swimming pool", Mayor-info.comCity of Kyiv, Ukraine^er July 2003.

²¹ Mantes la Jolie, Roubaix, Marcq-en-Barœul, etc.

²² Marc Fayard, “Le Mans: female basketball players allowed to play veiled”, Lepoint.fr, 15 October 2013

²³ Law of Secularism, 1905. France has also included this principle of secularism in its Constitution.

²⁴ "Sailing. The Sultanate of Oman wants to make its sportswomen shine", Letelegramme.fr, March 23, 2013.

²⁵ Jean-Philippe Acensi, “The veil threatens the universality of sport”, Le Monde, July 20, 2012.

²⁶ "Wearing the veil in football: France says no", Lepoint.fr, July 6, 2012.

²⁷ Le Monde with AFP, “FIFA authorizes the wearing of the veil, anger of French football”, Lemonde.fr, March 1, 2014.

²⁸ Ibid. Let us note once again that this benevolence contrasts at the very least with the intransigence of the football powers which, like the IOC, repress political expressions by their athletes (in the same year 2014, FIFA banned “message T-shirts” of a political nature, just as the IOC banned the badges that wanted to bring athletes to Beijing in support of Tibet).

²⁹ Le Figaro, March 2, 2014.

³⁰ This request is presented and commented on to denounce it on the website of the Collectif Contre l'islamophobie en France, on November 7, 2013. Following the notification of its dissolution in November 2020, the CCIF no longer has a website in France. A home page informs that its communication tools are closed and that the CCIF "deploys a large part of its activities abroad". It is impossible for the authors to return to the history; this passage was seen/copied by the authors in 2014.

³¹ At the start of the 2013 school year, the Charter of Secularism was installed in all public schools.

³² CCIF website, op. cit.

³³ It was Najat Vallaud Belkacem, Minister of Women's Rights, Urban Affairs, Youth and Sports.

³⁴ Check Info.foot, May 3, 2014.

³⁵ Bénévent Tosseri, “Secularism: in Isère, no veil on the sidelines”, Lacroix.com, April 26, 2017.

³⁶ This observatory was set up by François Hollande in 2013. Its president, Jean-Louis Bianco, declared at the end of this first year: "France has no problem with its secularism". This very controversial structure, because it proposes compromise positions always wanting to "please both parties", was called into question by the government in 2020, its "disappearance" being planned for April 2021.

³⁷ Bénévent Tosseri, “Secularism: in Isère, no veil on the sidelines”, op. cit.

³⁸ Ibid.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ On Twitter on March 20, 2021: https://twitter.com/LeBondyBlog/status/1373193807089520644.

⁴¹ Nina Hossein, “Women in hijab on the football field”, Paulette-magazine.com, June 20, 2020. 

Paulette magazine was created in 2011. The group of this newspaper says it defines itself “in 4 adjectives: community, prescriptive, representative – “desire for inclusion” – committed”. 

⁴² Ibid. We underline.

⁴³ Ibid. “Go to the field to denounce these practices.”

⁴⁴ SA, “In France: “Hijabeuses” also want to play football”, Bladi.net, July 21, 2020.

⁴⁵ See on Twitter: "Do you want to join the hijabeuses? Find out more? Get involved so that women can play competitive football? (Instagram@leshijabeuses)". Among the supporters displayed at this founding moment, we discover the Parisian football club "Les Dégommeuses", a sociologist teacher-researcher, Béatrice Barbusse and a research engineer Haïfa Tlili. 

⁴⁶ See the website alliancecitoyenne.org/hijabeuses/

⁴⁷Charlotte Vautier, “The Hijabeuses: the female footballers who are fighting against the ban on wearing the veil in competition”, Click.tv, November 25 2020.

⁴⁸ Samuel Piquet, “Thinly Veiled Propaganda”, Marianne.net, December 3, 2020.

⁴⁹ The rapporteur of The Observatory of Secularism explained to the leaders of the FFF that secularism is not intolerance and that "no one should be excluded from sports practice because of their religious opinions". See Nicolas Cadene, "Secularism and Sport. Speech before the FFF on April 5, 2016". Online document.

⁵⁰ Letter to Noël Le Graët, President of the FFF, on December 9, 2020, which concludes as follows: "The most recent parliamentary work on the theme of Islamist radicalization, whether it be the report of the Information Mission on radicalization in public services (June 2019) or the Senate Commission of Inquiry on the responses provided by public authorities to the development of Islamist radicalization and the means of combating it (July 2020), highlight the importance of sport as a place of radicalization. This is manifested, initially, by the expression of religious-type demands (covering clothing, non-mixed, prayer rooms, etc.). It is up to all of us to be vigilant and united in the face of these pressures and we are grateful to you for the firmness and accuracy of your emancipatory position."

⁵¹ This is the editor-in-chief of the magazine. Mejdaline Mhiri. See “Women, racialized, veiled: a triple sanction for sportswomen?”, Lessportives.fr, 20 January 2021.

⁵² The Champions League match between PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir on December 8, 2020 was interrupted because a Romanian referee allegedly used the term " black » to designate a player. 

⁵³ In France, article 225-1 of the Penal Code defines a list of criteria which constitute discrimination: “Any distinction made between natural persons on the basis of their origin constitutes discrimination, of their sex, their family situation, their pregnancy, of their physical appearance, their surname, their state of health, their handicap, their genetic characteristics, their morals, their sexual orientation, their sexual identity, their age, their political opinions, their trade union activities, their membership or non-membership, real or supposed, of a specific ethnic group, nation, race or religion”. See “What to do in the event of discrimination?”, Service-public.fr, November 27 2020. 

⁵⁴ Especially in the secular country of France… where religious choices and beliefs are a private matter.

⁵⁵ Romain Herreros, “Hijab Decathlon: the Minister of Sports wants to “reach out to women wherever they are””, Huffingpost.fr, February 26, 2019.

⁵⁶ "On December 22, the services of the Defender of Rights (DDD) sent a threatening letter to the president of the Jablines-Annet leisure center, in Seine-et-Marne, owned by the Île-de-France region. “It seems to me that the ban on the burkini within the leisure centre is likely to constitute discrimination”, writes George Pau-Langevin, deputy of the Defender of Rights. A referral based on a complaint from the CCIF. Which, accused by the government of spreading “consistently an action of Islamist propaganda”, was dissolved on December 2nd." Stéphane Kovacs, "When the Defender of Rights commits to the burkini", Lefigaro.fr, 25 January 2021.

⁵⁷ In 2016, Saudi Arabia maintained the requirements of the previous Olympics: Saudi female athletes must wear Islamic dress, cover themselves from head to toe, obtain the agreement of a guardian (often the father or brother) who must accompany them to the Olympics and respect non-mixed areas.

⁵⁸ April 2021, amendment presented at the initiative of Michel Savin, LR (Les Républicains) senator from Isère.

⁵⁹ Report 595 Chairperson: Ms Nathalie Delattre, Rapporteur: Ms Jacqueline Eustache Brinio.