Since 1989, the debate has grown to include the wearing of Islamic coverings on public beaches, when playing sports, and by politicians. Because of the wide-ranging social debates caused by the controversy, l'affaire du foulard has been compared to the Dreyfus affair in its impact on French culture. That incident, referred to in France as l'affaire du foulard (the scarf affair) or l'affaire du voile (the veil affair), initially focused the controversy on the wearing of the hijab in French public schools.
The cultural framework of the controversy can be traced to France's history of colonization in North Africa, but escalated into a significant public debate in 1989 when three girls were suspended from school for refusing to remove their headscarves. In France, there is an ongoing social, political, and legal debate concerning the wearing of the hijab and other forms of Islamic coverings in public.
