<P> Turkey, Tunisia, and Tajikistan are Muslim - majority countries where the law prohibits or recently prohibited the wearing of hijab in government buildings, schools, and universities . In Tunisia, women were banned from wearing hijab in state offices in 1981 and in the 1980s and 1990s more restrictions were put in place . In 2008 the Turkish government attempted to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities, but were overturned by the country's Constitutional Court . In December 2010, however, the Turkish government ended the headscarf ban in universities, government buildings and schools . </P> <P> On March 15, 2004, France passed a law banning "symbols or clothes through which students conspicuously display their religious affiliation" in public primary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools . In the Belgian city of Maaseik, the niqāb has been banned since 2006 . On July 13, 2010, France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public, becoming the first European country to ban the full - face veil in public places . </P> <P> Belgium banned the full - face veil in 2011 in places like parks and on the streets . In September 2013, the electors of the Swiss canton of Ticino voted in favour of a ban on face veils in public areas . In 2016, Latvia and Bulgaria banned the burqa in public places . In October 2017, wearing a face veil became also illegal in Austria . This ban also includes scarves, masks and clown paint that cover faces to avoid discriminating against Muslim dress . In 2016, Bosnia - Herzegovina's supervising judicial authority upheld a ban on wearing Islamic headscarves in courts and legal institutions, despite protests from the Muslim community that constitutes 40% of the country . In 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled that companies were allowed to bar employees from wearing visible religious symbols, including the hijab . However, if the company has no policy regarding the wearing of clothes that demonstrate religious and political ideas, a costumer cannot ask employees to remove the clothing item . </P> <P> In 2016, more than 20 French towns banned the use of the burqini, a style of swimwear intended to accord with rules of hijab . Dozens of women were subsequently issued fines, with some tickets citing not wearing "an outfit respecting good morals and secularism", and some were verbally attacked by bystanders when they were confronted by the police . Enforcement of the ban also hit beachgoers wearing a wide range of modest attire besides the burqini . Media reported that in one case the police forced a woman to remove part of her clothing on a beach in Nice . The Nice mayor's office denied that she was forced to do so and the mayor condemned what he called the "unacceptable provocation" of wearing such clothes in the aftermath of the Nice terrorist attack . </P>

What is the religious significance of the hijab