The Bible, Franco and Al-Andalus versus Elena Ramallo's discourse on banning the hijab in Madrid schools.
PSOE and Más Madrid accuse Elena Ramallo of racism and religious hatred in the Madrid Assembly over her speech against the hijab in schools. . The PP has no opinion.
Elena Ramallo at the Assembly of Madrid
The Objective
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On 14 June 2025, the Women's Commission of the Assembly of Madrid He listened to Elena del Pilar Ramallo's appearance to propose a ban on the Islamic veil in schools.. However, the agenda did not explicitly refer to the hijab, but addressed the “guarantee of the protection of women's rights in the Community of Madrid in the face of the advance of cultural diversity.”.
The Women's Commission is a parliamentary body of the Assembly of Madrid where issues related to gender equality and women's rights are debated. The commissions do not enact laws but can draw up reports and submit proposals to bring initiatives before the Assembly's Plenary. Elena Ramallo appeared there as an expert at the request of VOX.
Elena Ramallo's arguments against the veil in schools
During her appearance before the Women's Committee of the Assembly of Madrid, Elena del Pilar Ramallo He argued that the Islamic veil is not a free choice.. They explain The Objective i The Debate, which the expert considers to be a tool of religious control that violates women's rights. According to her, Its use stems from the imposition of Sharia and a culture that considers women inferior to men.
Ramallo described the hijab as “cloth prison” and he stated that no woman, if she feels free, “chooses to cover herself because she considers herself impure”. He also assured that The veil is part of a system of submission., which begins with segregation at school and can lead to forced marriages, restrictions on sexual freedom and even female genital mutilation.
The witness stated that The State has an obligation to guarantee free and equal education, and this entails protecting girls from practices it considers oppressive.. For this reason, he asked the ban on the hijab and burka in schools and public spaces, following the example of countries such as France and Belgium, which have established legal restrictions on the use of religious symbols in the educational sphere.
The left responds that «it wants to destroy democracy.»
Elena Ramallo's intervention received a Immediate and forceful reaction from left-wing groups presents to the Women's Commission. Both the Socialist Workers' Party how More Madrid They accused the speaker of spreading a speech full of “racism, Islamophobia and chauvinism”, and they questioned both his authority and the real reason for his appearance.
The PSOE MP, Silvia Monterrubio, was particularly harsh. He said that “freedom is not defended by criminalising difference” and stated that Ramallo's discourse It was not characteristic of a human rights expert, but rather of political hate speech.. He also accused her of using feminism to attack a specific community and concluded by telling her directly: “You want to destroy democracy.”.
The also Más Madrid MP, Marta Carmona, he remarked that the intervention was a display of supremacism disguised as feminism and defended the right of Muslim girls to dress as they wish without being stigmatised. She recalled that religious freedom is also part of fundamental rights.
The Bible, Franco and Al-Andalus in defence of the hijab
The Más Madrid MP Jimena González read passages from the Bible that portray the woman as subordinate to the man in order to denounce what he described as double standard“She only objects to the veil when it's Islamic, but never questions Christian symbols, even though they are also patriarchal,” she said. She accused the right of using feminism as a pretext to criminalise the Muslim community and argued that gender equality is not achieved by banning symbols but by guaranteeing rights.
For her part, the MP Marta Carmona He recovered historical memory to respond to Ramallo's speech. He referred to Al-Andalus as a stage of cultural coexistence, and accused the speaker of wanting to erase the diversity inherent in Spain: “He has forgotten eight rather important centuries in our history.”, he said. He also compared the tone of the intervention with the speeches of the Francoism, stating that “defending freedom by forcing a section of the population to conceal their identity leads us into very dark times.”.
The People's Party doesn't know what to say.
The representative of the People's Party, Esther Platero, he distanced himself from both the right and the left. He criticised Elena Ramallo, claiming that «He has insulted the PP.»and who had taken advantage of his intervention to “making politics instead of talking about the issue that concerns us”. However, he also did not take a clear position on the hijab. Platero attacked both extremes of the debate and said: «The debate on the hijab cannot be hijacked by two extremes: the left, complicit with Islamism, and VOX, which stokes fear and exclusion.».
After the hearing, Ramallo was surprised. for the sake of the debate. She lamented that she had been interrupted with gestures and bad manners and stated: «This is the first time my CV has been questioned in a committee.». He summarised the reactions as follows: «Más Madrid has spoken about Christianity and Franco; the PSOE has called me racist; and as for the PP… I'd like to know what their position is.». Finally, he urged the president Isabel Díaz Ayuso a Legislate on this issue and ban girls from wearing the veil to school..
Elena Ramallo's fight against the veil in schools
Elena Ramallo has made the debate over the hijab in schools one of the central pillars of her work. . She criticises that Madrid's secondary schools do not use their autonomy to include rules in their internal regulations that effectively ban the veil.“If a school bans caps, hoodies and the veil, it is banning the hijab,” argues Ramallo, and he maintains that this measure should have… legislative consensus and not to decide arbitrarily.
Several public centres in the Community of Madrid already include in their Internal Regulations the ban on wearing any head covering during school hours. This applies to Spanish secondary schools such as the Nicolaus Copernicus, the Narcís Monturiol i Humanities, where it has been decreed that “nothing is allowed that covers the head”, including caps and veils. This decision has sparked protests from students and left-wing unions who describe it as’Islamophobic and racist.
The situation contrasts with that of Muslim-majority countries such as Albania or Northern Cyprus, where the veil is banned in schools and It is the left-wing trade unions that defend religious neutrality. in the face of the intentions of the religious right.
Although there is no specific state or regional legislation on the hijab in schools, This internal regulation has become the only framework in force.. This legal loophole is what Ramallo firmly points to as the target of legislative reform to avoid leaving centres that wish to make the decision on their own.
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