This article appears in the following Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society issue: Special Issue: The Veil: Debating Citizenship, Gender and Religious Diversity [View the issue table of contents]
Contentious Citizenship: Policies and Debates on the Veil in the Netherlands
Correspondence: E-mail: S.Saharso{at}utwente.nl
In this contribution, we present an analysis of the regulations and public debates regarding the veil in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2006, thereby exploring the idea that the framing and regulating of veiling reflect national traditions of citizenship. In line with our hypothesis that the legacy of pillarization makes religious identity claims highly legitimate in the Netherlands, we found regulations to be accommodating. In the Dutch legal debate, the veil was mainly discussed in terms of neutrality. Sustaining our hypothesis was also the relatively large presence of Muslim(a)s in the public debate and public opinion being in favor of accommodation. Yet, when the claim for recognition concerned headscarves in the police force and judiciary or the Islamic face-cover (niqab and burqa) the Dutch reacted more divided. A shift has occurred over the years, in that gender equality frames have come to resonate more successfully in the public debate, and with a stronger association of the veil with concerns about social cohesion, integration, and the moral limits of public behavior. Our findings suggest that the Dutch multicultural citizenship tradition is under pressure and contingent on power relations between political parties and political events on a national and international level. To account for this gradual shift over time we suggest a historicizing theory of citizenship models.