PARIS — A Muslim woman garbed in a head-to-toe swimsuit — dubbed a “burquini” — may have opened a new chapter in France’s tussle between religious practices and its stern secular code.
Officials insisted Wednesday they banned the woman’s use of the Islam-friendly suit at a local pool because of France’s pool hygiene standards — not out of hostility to overtly Muslim garb.
Under the policy, swimmers are not allowed in pools with baggy clothing, including surfer-style shorts. Only figure-hugging suits are permitted.
Nonetheless the woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in a “burquini,” a full-body swimsuit, in Emerainville, southeast of Paris.
She told Le Parisien newspaper that she had bought the burquini after deciding “it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends. For me this is nothing but segregation,” she said.
The “burquini” covers the arms to the wrists and the legs to the ankle and has a hood to cover neck and hair.
An official in charge of swimming pools for the Emerainville region, Daniel Guillaume, said the refusal to allow the local woman to swim in her “burquini” had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with public health standards.
“These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers,” he said.
“We reminded this woman that one should not bathe all dressed, just as we would tell someone who is a nudist not to bathe all naked,” he said.
Guillaume said France’s health standards require all pool-goers to don swimsuits for women and tight, swimming briefs for men — and caps to cover their hair. Bathers also must shower before entering the water.
Emerainville Mayor Alan Kelyor said he could not understand why the woman would want to swim in head-to-toe clothes. “We are going back in civilization,” he said. Women have fought for decades for equal rights with men, he said. “Now we are putting them back in burqas and veils.”
The suits have a clear market.
Women “jump on the occasion so they can swim with their families. Otherwise, they end up staying on the beach and watching,” said Leila Mouhoubia, who runs an online site that specializes in the sale of Islamic swimsuits. Sales, she said, are strong.
“I think it’s forbidden (in France) because it presents an image of the Muslim woman (and) they have prejudices against Muslims,” she said. “They want women to be undressed.”
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