The lower house of the Austrian parliament on Thursday passed a bill that would ban the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in schools for girls under the age of 14. The law essentially bans “traditional Muslim” head coverings, including hijabs and burkas.
Back in 2020, the Austrian Constitutional Court overturned a similar ban on children under 10, arguing that the regulation adversely affected Muslim students and was incompatible with the state’s religious neutrality, reports Mandiner.
The proposal now put forward by the governing coalition was supported by the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which was the only one to call for the ban to be extended to teachers and other school workers. The smallest parliamentary faction, the Greens, voted against it, saying the measure was unconstitutional.
Human rights groups have also criticized the plan, warning that the ban would further reinforce prejudice against Muslims, while the Islamic Community of Austria (IGGO) said the measure violated religious freedom. IGGO added that it will be pursuing all options to overturn the law.
Claudia Plakolm, Austria’s minister for Europe, integration and family affairs and a member of the ruling coalition’s Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), called the headscarf “a symbol of oppression.”
Yannick Shetty, parliamentary group leader of the New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS), commented, “This is not about restricting freedom, but about protecting the freedom of girls under 14.” According to him, the headscarf is not a simple piece of clothing, but – especially in the case of minors – a tool that seeks to hide girls from the male gaze, essentially sexualizing them before they are even women.
Christoph Wiederkehr, minister of education, science and research, highlighted that more and more young girls are under pressure from their families or boys their own age, who impose dress codes on them for religious reasons.
The Greens parliamentary group leader, Sigrid Maurer, acknowledged that such cases occur, but she believes that the problem should not be addressed with a general ban. Instead, she says interdisciplinary professional groups operating at the school level — including representatives of the Muslim community — should be used to intervene in a timely manner when “cultural tensions” arise.
The issue of sexualizing young girls is real. Child marriages are an accepted norm in Muslim societies around the world. Remix News reported last year on a marriage preparation seminar for girls as young as 13 at a mosque in Mannheim, Germany.
This past summer, we wrote about Berlin authorities having to sound the alarm ahead of school break due to Muslim families taking their girls on “vacation” back to their home countries, only to stick them into arranged marriages. At that time, Seyran Ateş, the prominent author and women’s rights advocate, warns that the problem is becoming greater due to mass immigration and the entrenchment of parallel communities within German society.
Just two months ago, Remix News reported on the house arrest of a Bangladeshi couple living in Italy who had allegedly forced their daughter into marriage in Bangladesh and subjected her to threats, abuse, and drugs intended to induce pregnancy. The family had lived in Italy since 2011. The daughter, aged 20, was put into protective custody.
Last October 2024, in Vienna, an 18-year-old Syrian man reportedly stabbed a 32-year-old man during a confrontation over the wedding plans for a 15-year-old girl.
At the time, Dominik Nepp, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in Vienna, blasted integration efforts, telling press: “The culture of the so-called refugees from the Arab region is and will never be ours!”
As it stands, a trial period for the new measure will start this coming February, with a full ban taking effect in September 2026. Schools will be asked to intervene with the families (parents or legal guardians) of girls who continue to wear Muslim head coverings, with repeated violations leading to interventions by a family welfare agency and potentially fines of up to €800.
