The Sweden Democrats’ new spokesperson for gender equality and honour-related issues, Sara Gille, is making Muslims want to leave Sweden. Photo: Sverigedemokraterna.
The Sweden Democrats’ call for a hijab ban has ignited a new culture war. While the party describes the hijab as a symbol of female oppression, social media is filling with protests, threats to leave the country, and demands that nuns and traditional head coverings must also be included if the ban becomes a reality.
The Sweden Democrats are campaigning to introduce a comprehensive ban on the hijab in public places in Sweden. The proposal represents a significant tightening of the party’s previous position, which has primarily been directed at full-covering garments such as the burqa and niqab.
– The party believes that these garments are expressions of a view of women that conflicts with the values of freedom and equality upon which Swedish society is built, the party writes in a press release.
The party’s spokesperson for gender equality and honour-related issues, Sara Gille, justifies the proposal on the grounds that many women and girls are subjected to pressure or coercion to wear a veil, and that the garment in many contexts functions as a symbol of control and female subordination.
– It is a garment that oppresses women and is about women submitting to men. We want to combat honour-related violence and oppression, and if one is to do that, these garments must also be removed, says the party’s new spokesperson for gender equality and honour-related issues, Sara Gille.
The Sweden Democrats now want to investigate how a national ban could be designed. The ambition is to introduce a total ban on these religious garments in public.
The issue of a hijab ban has long been controversial in Swedish politics. The Sweden Democrats have previously advocated bans on the niqab and burqa, while Moderate politicians last year put forward a proposal to ban the hijab in primary schools and preschools, citing honour-related oppression and children’s freedom.
Strong reactions online
The proposal from the Sweden Democrats has triggered an intense debate on social media.
Among the critics are those who claim that there is now an “open season on Muslims”, and there are Muslims who state that they would consider leaving Sweden if a hijab ban were introduced.
Photo: Screenshot/Facebook/Fayyad Assali
Göteborgs-Posten has also published an article in which Muslim women react strongly to the Sweden Democrats’ proposal. Fardowsa Adam believes the proposal is an attack on her right to dress as she wishes, while Sumaya Abdullahi says that she is considering moving away from Sweden if the ban becomes a reality.
– Then I will simply have to move away from here, she says.
Others argue that a ban would constitute an infringement of freedom of religion and contend that the state would then also have to prohibit other religious or cultural head coverings. Many posts cite examples such as nuns’ veils or folk costumes in which women traditionally wear scarves or head coverings.
– There will soon be a total veil ban if the Sweden Democrats get their way. So take the opportunity to wear your folk costume before it is too late. Happy Midsummer from the Sweden Democrats!, writes Hillevi Larsson (S) on Facebook.
– The Sweden Democrats want a veil ban, but what exactly do they mean? asks Lotta Lindström in a post accompanied by an image comparing different types of women’s head coverings.
Photo: Screenshot/Facebook/Lotta Lindström
Could become an election issue
The hijab issue thus appears set to become yet another fault line ahead of the 2026 parliamentary election. The Sweden Democrats and several politicians on the right argue that the hijab is a garment that oppresses women and has no place in Sweden, while the red-green parties maintain that the veil is in itself a neutral item of clothing and that a ban would restrict individual freedom.
How any such ban should be designed legally remains to be investigated. But the debate over the place of the hijab in Swedish society has already gained new momentum.