Behind the Veil of Origin: Revisiting the Impacts of the French Headscarf Ban in Schools

Sébastien Montpetit

No 293, I4R Discussion Paper Series from The Institute for Replication (I4R)

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of prohibiting the Islamic veil in schools on economic outcomes and long-run integration of Muslim women. Using a difference-in-differences design, I show that the 1994 directive instructing school principals to ban the veil in French schools led to a substantial decline in educational attainment among affected cohorts, with persistent consequences for employment and marriage market outcomes. An analysis of mechanisms suggests that these effects stem primarily from heightened perceptions of discrimination and mistrust toward the French school system, rather than shifts in parental educational investments. Replicating prior work, I also show that misclassification of religion in Abdelgadir and Fouka (2020) and Maurin and Navarrete- Hern'andez (2023) introduces substantial bias. Despite the adverse economic consequences, the affected cohorts exhibit stronger identification with France but also higher levels of religiosity, suggesting a mixed long-run impact on cultural assimilation.

Keywords: headscarf ban; religious identity; women's education; cultural integration; marriage market; misclassification bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I28 J15 J16 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:293

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