Germany’s Neutrality Act, in force for 20 years, prohibits the wearing of religious symbols and clothing while on duty for “officials employed in the legal system, the prison system, or the police.”
However, after several lawsuits and a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, the ban no longer applies to teachers in Berlin. No changes were made, however, that would have been in line with the constitution due to a new governing coalition in 2023.
The CDU and SPD coalition agreed to adapt the Neutrality Act “in a legally binding manner to the current jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court.”
Now, the Berlin Green Party faction has put forth a motion, set to be debated in the House of Representatives, claiming that the neutrality law “hampers the access of women who have chosen to wear a headscarf to public service jobs and in some cases makes this impossible,” Welt writes, based on an initial report out of Berliner Tagesspiegel.
The Green Party politician Tuba Bozkurt told the Tagesspiegel: “Highly qualified women are not allowed to practice their profession because they wear a headscarf. That’s a problem.”
Her main issue is that this constitutes a “de facto professional ban” when Berlin faces a shortage of skilled workers and labor. However, despite such claims, many of Germany’s Muslim population are also among the unemployed, and they do not wear headscarves.
