Islamic headscarves ought to be banned at workplaces and in schools – that’s the view of half the people surveyed in a new Swedish poll.
The poll, the third of its kind taken by Uppsala University to measure Swedes’ views of diversity, shows a rising number of people supporting a headscarf ban. In 2005, 43 percent wanted a ban on Islamic female head coverings. This year, 49.8 percent of the 1,065 people asked supported a ban. Hardening attitudes on the headscarf question is a sign of deteriorating race relations. On a more positive note, 80 percent of people said they had good experiences of contact with people of foreign origins. According to the study’s authors only 5 percent have “extremely negative views” of immigrants – around the same percentage as last year, but higher than in 2005.