The Islamic scarf controversy in France, referred to there as "l'affaire du voile" (the veil affair), "l'affaire du voile islamique" (the Islamic veil affair), and "l'affaire du foulard" (the scarf affair), arose in 1989, pertaining to the wearing of the hijab in French public schools. It involved issues of the place of Muslim women, differences between Islamic doctrine and Islamic tradition, the conflict between communitarianism and the French policy of minority assimilation, discussions of the "Islamist threat" to French society and of Islamophobia.