Percent of Muslim Women Who Wear Head Scarves Every Day
Another Pew Global Attitudes Project survey conducted earlier this year in France, Germany, Great Britain, and Spain finds that a majority of Muslim women in Great Britain and Spain and just under half of Muslim women in Germany cover their heads every day or almost every day.
In Great Britain, where the debate over head scarves and veils has become particularly heated following former foreign secretary Jack Straw’s recent comments that the full-face veil is “a visible statement of separation and of difference,” more than half of Muslim women report wearing the head scarf every day. Slightly more than four-in-ten Muslim women in Spain and Germany cover their heads daily, while an additional two-in-ten in Spain and nearly one-in-six in Germany do so at least occasionally. About a third of Muslim women in Spain and 41% in Germany never cover their heads.
Only in France do a large majority of Muslim women (73%) say they “never” wear the religiously prescribed head covering. This reflects other survey results that show French Muslims generally are less likely to identify primarily as Muslims than are their counterparts in other European countries.3 Still, one-in-eight say they follow the dictates of their faith and cover their heads every day.
Percent of Muslim Women Who  | Wear Head Scarves Every Day  | Great Britain 53  | Spain 45  | Germany 44  | France 13 