Secular Portraits and Religious Shadows: An Empirical Study of Religious Women in France

  • Pascale Fournier
Chapter

Abstract

Of the three countries covered by this book, France is certainly the one in which secularism has spawned the most enduring and high-profile debates regarding church-state boundaries. Laïcité, the French word for secularism, has been incessantly invoked and mobilized by mandarins and public intellectuals from across the political spectrum to justify controversial legal and political projects. Specifically, laïcité has been at the core of two intertwined debates: the place of religion in a secular state and the impact of religious norms on women’s equality. My intervention, based on socio-legal fieldwork among Jewish and Muslim women who have gone through religious and civil divorce in France, addresses both topics.

Keywords

Muslim Woman Religious Freedom Civil Court Legal Pluralism Religious Norm 
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Notes

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Copyright information

© Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, and Aurora Nou 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Pascale Fournier

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