A School Director and Non-discrimination Law

The first case study examines how a school director, the general public and legal professionals in the Netherlands move away from non-discrimination law. The chapter focuses on a ruling by the Equal Treatment Commission, which stated that a public school was wrong to suspend a female Muslim teacher who refused to shake hands with men. The chapter argues that the public controversy following this decision illustrates the way in which non-discrimination law matters in the Netherlands. The empirical research shows that the school director and many other ordinary people feel disconnected from non-discrimination law. Most people in this case study are ‘cynics’ and ‘outsiders’, with some signs of ‘legal meaninglessness’ and ‘legal powerlessness’ but with a strong sense of ‘legal cynicism’ and ‘legal value isolation’.