The following video contains excerpts from a “Dossier Tabou” documentary from October of 2017, showing the way women are de facto banned from streets and cafés in a neighborhood of Creil (a town 70km [45mi] north of Paris). The source was this video; Vlad and I simply converted the close-captioned version to full subtitles, so I am unable to credit a translator:

(For a previous documentary about the woman-free cafés of the banlieues, see this 2016 video.)

Video transcript:

00:00 Fatima, a mother of five, is a member of a collective of angry women

00:05 who started opposing oppressive men.

00:08 She would like to be able to come and go freely in her neighborhood,

00:12 go to the café, and simply live without being harassed.

00:18 Here in the Plateau [area of Creil, 70km (45mi) north of Paris] you’ll never see a girl enter

00:21 a café to drink a cup of coffee. The cafés are for men, not for women.

00:25 It has happened to me before, that I’ve been called a…

00:28 … I can’t say the word, it is vulgar…

00:31 Called a prostitute? —Er… not prostitute…

00:34 … more like whore, slut… —Whore? —Yes

00:37 You, a mother, are called a whore if you go to a café in your neighborhood?

00:41 Yes, in this area. Because women are made for cooking, not for going to the café.

00:47 Women are made for cleaning, [minding] kids…not for going out.

00:53 Well we can go grocery shopping, but not… …not to go out drink a coffee, that would be a problem.

00:58 Today, Fatima and her collective are going to carry a high-profile operation,

01:03 even if it makes the men from the area angry at them.

01:06 Hey, don’t forget your jacket.

01:09 She came here from Morocco 30 years ago.

01:13 She has seen the neighborhood change and had to give up the freedom

01:18 that was so attractive when she came to France.

01:25 I remember, we arrived here in 1989, and here it was different.

01:28 It was not the same mentality, not the same…

01:31 Seeing how people were living here, I thought

01:34 “That’s so great, now I too can do what I want!”

01:37 [Then] I was dressed casually, actually

01:40 Jeans, a little jacket, I had no veil…

01:46 At this time you did not wear a veil in public? —No, not at all.

01:50 I started wearing the veil when it all began, say around 2005.

01:56 So that… well, nobody bothers a ‘mother’… So that nobody…

02:02 From the early 2000s, Fatima watched as women of the area began to cover their heads

02:07 one after another. So she too adopted the dress code,

02:11 to escape men’s remarks. —The ideal city is freedom…

02:16 …[a place] where you find diversity and freedom.

02:19 and where you can be outside without fear,

02:22 without having to hide, where you can live freely, in fact.

02:32 The group of women with whom she will attempt to regain freedom is here.

02:42 Now that we’re here I can get comfortable.

02:50 Hello… —There are about 10 mothers who would like to regain access

02:54 to the streets and cafés of the neighborhood,

02:57 to be able to take a walk without being hassled by men.

03:02 …so here… Their leader is Rachida, of an Algerian background.

03:08 Like Fatima, she arrived here 30 years ago.

03:11 I think there are several places where action should be taken…

03:17 We want to be able to be in the streets, to be able to dress the way we want — there is that too,

03:25 also not having to keep our heads down, when we’re outside, but to hold them high,

03:31 also being able to take care of ourselves; that is important, too,

03:36 that is, before maybe I wouldn’t have dared to put on some lipstick.

03:42 That’s what is important to us. Let’s go.

03:46 They’re targeting the main street of the area to engage with men,

03:50 and ask them why they do not accept the presence of women on the street.

03:53 As a group, they feel stronger to confront them.

03:58 So as not impair their operations, we shoot discreetly with hidden cameras.

04:05 So this is it, rue Henri Dunant, a commercial road with lots of shops,

04:12 and we’ll head towards places where there are more and more men.

04:18 We women, we go as fast as we can, we do what we have to and then we go home…

04:25 This is not a place where I can have a break, breathe a little and stay; no,

04:32 it’s always rushing, there is a pressure.

04:35 Very quickly the group attracts the men’s attention.

04:40 yes, they are puzzled. We’re not doing anything wrong, hello…

04:47 Here it is the same, in the little teahouse, only men.

04:53 We’d like it too, having a little cafeteria or something like it,

04:56 to have a chat, have a break between us, that would be good.

05:01 The mere presence of these women is disturbing. On the sidewalks,

05:06 men gather and start following them.

05:11 …better keep going… yeah, let’s keep going.

05:14 We are monitored and super-spied on. We are being followed…

05:20 Do you want to take part? —We are explaining that

05:25 there are not as many women in the street as there used to be…

05:30 Don’t you agree?

05:33 Few women in the streets, and none in the cafés.

05:36 A café is not made for women unless she goes in a… on holiday.

05:40 On holiday, it happened that I went with my mother and we had a break in a restaurant,

05:44 that’s not too bad. —But here, in the neighborhood?

05:47 Here we are at the Plateau Rouher, the upper part of Creil. Here the community

05:51 is more of a Muslim community, believers.

05:54 It’s not people who drink beers when they like, or cocktails, like in Paris.

05:58 The women prefer to stay with their kids, in parks.

06:01 OK… safe places, where then can chat with other women, have fun, etc.

06:05 But in cafés, in the Islamic religion men and women cannot mix.

06:10 Women have a particular modesty, so they cannot do so.

06:14 How so!? —They cannot, that’s the way. That’s been the way for millennia.

06:18 Another man goes further… According to him, the issue comes from the women themselves.

06:23 No place is forbidden to women here. We haven’t said it was forbidden.

06:26 So maybe it is they who impose that ban on themselves,

06:29 and it is they who build that “shield” themselves.

06:32 It is forbidden for someone who respects her faith to enter such a place,

06:36 so it is not an issue due to men, from the start. See…

06:40 So it would be a cultural issue?

06:43 Exactly; that’s woman’s culture! —Will her husband accept her going to a café?

06:47 Herself, she won’t accept it because it is in contradiction with her religious morals.

06:52 Only one man comes to the defense of women.

06:56 It’s a misunderstanding. I am Muslim. I am practising; if I see a woman

06:59 entering a café, drinking coffee, there is nothing wrong.

07:02 Yup. —So why would I see that straight away as something wrong, or as a provocation on the part of

07:06 the woman, because there are men around? She can just be there to drink her coffee and then leave.

07:10 One shouldn’t have this misunderstanding, one should keep an open spirit,

07:15 and that guy who was talking, he was talking rubbish about this neighborhood, rubbish…

07:20 What does it mean? Women on one side, men on the other? No!

07:23 But in practice, there are indeed no women in the cafés around here.

07:29 And here again, men in the café there. Only lads.

07:35 Several years ago, I was shopping there, at the grocery shop over there, without any issue.

07:39 Now I don’t go.

07:42 For ten years I haven’t gone over there anymore.

07:45 Maybe you could go, as a group?

07:48 Maybe, but… we risk getting in troubles.

07:54 Being told “What are you doing here?”, “You shouldn’t be here.”

07:59 Yes… Especially at that place… oh, yes.

08:05 Suddenly, a man loses his temper.

08:08 Hey, the photographer! Who are you shooting, you? Go shoot elsewhere. What are you doing in here?

08:13 We’re going around on the street… —…the “submissive women” or something there…

08:16 No, no, we’re part of an association —What association,

08:19 what do you… —They are locals, from Creil…

08:22 —Do you want our mothers to start drinking coffee with men? Is that your “association”?!

08:25 That’s what people are saying. You want our mothers to start sitting with the men?

08:29 They are not “submissive”, our mothers… No, it’s these ladies here… And stop bringing

08:33 your French mentality here, because here all is going well, all is well. Our mothers live well!

08:37 Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], we respect our mothers, everybody respects… Do you want

08:41 our mothers to sit with old men drinking coffee?

08:44 That’s not the way we are educated; don’t bring your education here!

08:47 Here all is well, like it always has been.

08:51 And here we are, that gives you a glimpse…

08:54 According to some, not the majority, but it’s more and more like this.

08:58 “How dare you impose European ways on us!”

09:02 French ways, Dutch ways, Italian ways.

09:05 “How dare you inflict them on us, when we have our own culture!”

09:08 What they have not understood is that you can have your culture,