Skidmore College Creative Matter International Affairs Senior Theses International Affairs Spring 5-4-2016 Eveiluating Secularism and the Treatment of Muslim Women: A Cross-Cultural Study of France, the United States and India Bridget Stack Skidmore College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://creativematter.skidmore.edu/inter_aff_stu_schol Part of the International Relations Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, and the Sociology of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Stack, Bridget, "Eveiluating Secularism and the Treatment of Muslim Women: A Cross-Cultural Study of France, the United States and India" (2016). International Affairs Senior Theses. 1. https://creativematter.skidmore.edu/inter_aff_stu_schol/1 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the International Affairs at Creative Matter. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Affairs Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Creative Matter. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Eveiluating Secularism and the Treatment of Muslim Women: A Cross-Cultural Study of France, the United States and India International Affairs Capstone Paper May 4th, 2016 Bridget Stack Abstract Secularism, although linked with ideals of democracy and equality, does not always result in the equal, treatment by the government and under the law, of all religious peoples. There are many types of secularism, but the three types examined in this paper are hard secularism, moderate secularism, and soft secularism. Hard secularism discourages religious visibility and attempts to keep religion in the private sphere. Soft secularism values religious visibility and encourages religious visibility, pushing religion to enter the public sphere. Moderate secularism takes a neutral stance, not encouraging religion to enter the public sphere, nor confining religion to the private sphere.