Paris, France – Diaba Konate was a promising talent in French basketball.

Recognized by the French Federation of Basketball (FFBB) at 17, she played for the national youth teams in several major tournaments, including the U18 European Championship and the Youth Olympic Games in 2018, and won gold at the 2019 World Beach Games.

When she began her career, the possibilities were endless.

She earned a full scholarship to play at UC Irvine in the US, surpassing 1,000 points in her collegiate career, which included a season-high 20 points against UC Santa Barbara in February 2023.

Now 24, Konate wishes to play for France once more, but faces significant obstacles.

The barrier isn’t her skill; it’s that two years ago, she started wearing a hijab, a headscarf worn by many Muslim women.

“I didn’t anticipate it being such a major issue,” Konate told Al Jazeera, noting how little changed when she began wearing it in the US at 22.

But when she sought to compete in a French tournament that summer, organizers told her she needed to remove her hijab to participate.

Feeling “humiliated”, she uncovered that new FFBB regulations prohibited players from wearing “any equipment with a religious or political connotation”.

Konate felt “abandoned” by the FFBB and many of her former national coaches, who didn’t reach out after Article 9.3 banning headscarves was added in December 2022.

Now, she is advocating with Basket Pour Toutes (Basketball For All), a group mostly composed of young hijab-wearing Muslim women in France who are passionate about basketball.

They are challenging the basketball hijab ban and similar policies in French sports.

Their campaign gains traction ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera announced last September that athletes wearing hijabs will be banned from competing.

While athletes from other nations can wear hijabs at Paris 2024, French athletes cannot.

French laïcité's impact on Muslim women

Timothee Gauthierot, a basketball coach in the Paris suburb of Noisy-le-Sec and co-founder of Basket Pour Toutes, noted that even before the national ban, few hijab-wearing girls dreamed of becoming professional athletes in France due to rampant discrimination.

Human rights advocates argue that the hijab ban in French basketball represents a broader trend of using the country’s secularism principle (laïcité) to exclude Muslim women, likening it to laws banning headscarves and later abayas in public schools, in 2004 and in 2023, respectively.

Efforts to push the FFBB to revoke Article 9.3 continue, but it was introduced without input from basketball clubs.

Sources told Al Jazeera that the FFBB implemented new rules following a vote by French senators to ban the hijab in sporting competitions in January 2022.

This set a precedent, as Muslim women footballers’ attempts to allow hijabs in French football were also unsuccessful.

Rim-Sarah Alouane, a religious freedom legal expert, stated that these regulations “disproportionately impact Muslim women,” constituting indirect discrimination. She emphasized that laïcité should ensure state neutrality in religious matters, not suppress religious expression.

Paris 2024 Olympics and 'sportswashing'

The upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics will be the first to include human rights provisions in its Host City Contract, which guarantees respect for human rights during the organization of the Games.

Basket Pour Toutes is urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to oppose France’s hijab ban.

FIBA’s own hijab ban was lifted in 2017 after a campaign, while the IOC permits athletes to wear headscarves in its events.

Despite this, the IOC has not responded to calls from Amnesty International, FairSquare, and the Sport and Rights Alliance to ensure France allows its hijab-wearing athletes to participate.

Shireen Ahmed, an award-winning journalist specializing in Muslim women in sports, criticized the Olympics as being the “biggest case of sportswashing”, claiming France protects human rights while being anti-Muslim domestically.

Ahmed highlighted that the issue is about choice, relating to women’s bodily autonomy and the right to wear what they choose.

Ahmed also pointed out that laïcité is not evenly applied, as male athletes wearing a cross do not face similar scrutiny.

The ramifications of the French basketball hijab ban

The FFBB’s ban has had severe effects on French Muslim female athletes. On December 4, 2022, Helene Ba, a 22-year-old law student, was banned from playing basketball.

Remembering her match day, Ba recounted how the referee informed her coach, rather than her, stating that wearing a hijab posed a “danger”.

Ba countered, emphasizing FIBA’s acceptance of hijabs and the violence in requesting a woman to remove her religious attire.

She refused to comply and left the stadium, prompting her team to play without her.

Determined to act, Ba co-founded Basket Pour Toutes with coach Gauthierot and sociologist Haifa Tlili.

Tlili, who has conducted over 150 interviews with Muslim girls in sports, spoke of the trauma caused by the hijab ban, with many expressing their love for basketball as their only solace.

Solidarity and resistance on the court

Badiaga Coumba, a 21-year-old player, felt lost and almost gave up basketball due to the FFBB’s ruling. Unlike Ba, Coumba’s diverse team, full of Black and Muslim players, fostered strong solidarity.

When referees informed coaches that hijab-wearing players couldn’t even sit on the bench, Coumba’s team protested by refusing to play.

Gauthierot supported his athletes and faced serious legal actions from the FFBB and the president of the Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, who suspended funding for clubs not adhering to laïcité.

Facing fines and suspension, Gauthierot is challenging these decisions, adamant about standing against discrimination.

Admiring sports legends like Colin Kaepernick and Tommie Smith, Gauthierot asserted his willingness to fight for equality.

Importance of representation

The hijab ban continues amidst France’s preparations for the first Olympics with full gender parity, criticized for its contradictory stance on inclusivity.

Amnesty International’s researcher Anna Blus condemned the hypocrisy, highlighting the discrimination Muslim women face despite the proclaimed gender equality.

Andrea Florence from the Sports & Rights Alliance reiterated the Olympic charter’s principle 6, emphasizing inclusion without discrimination.

Only FIBA responded to comments, affirming the allowance of headgear in Olympic competitions without addressing intervention against the FFBB’s ban.

Basket Pour Toutes, undeterred, organized a large tournament in April, showcasing the possibility of inclusive play.

Konate, who benefitted from moving to the US, aims to return to France to fight for cultural change in basketball and help dismantle prejudices.

She stressed the importance of role models and representation, advocating for future generations to have the freedom to play sports without compromising their faith.