Governing the Headscarf – Tensions of Secularism, Feminism and Individual Liberties in Norway

In the governance of Islam in Norway, much political attention has been focused on women’s Islamic headcoverings. This paper compares the policy issue of regulating women’s use of the hijab in four different public institutions; the armed forces, the police, the court of law, and the customs. Why have these four processes produced different regulations of the hijab in institutions within the same national context? Interviews with key informants provide insight into the deliberations on the permissibility of the hijab as a religious symbol in these institutions, and the processes through which the issue has been settled. The empirical evidence point out at least three important factors which may have influenced the outcomes; institutional variations in secular practices, political delegation of authority on the issue, and the salience of the issue in the political context. Furthermore, the lack of organized Muslim participation in the policy deliberations requires some attention. Still, the empirical findings suggest that there is considerable pragmatism within public offices, and interestingly, that there are a variety of manners in which Muslim women’s right to wear the hijab in public institutions are framed. In sum, the findings reflect some unsettled political tensions between Norwegian interpretations of secularism, feminism and the individual liberties of religious minority citizens.