There’s no absolute. It can be modesty, national pride for some, or just fashion. From what i’ve seen some Muslim girls have begun to replace them with hats and beanies, it’s the idea not the veil itself. You can’t ban a mentality and that’s why it’s foolish to ban it in schools because you are placing restrictions on freedoms.
The Hijab is a way to say "look at me, I'm Muslim, I'm different" and France doesn't allow people to be different, you have to be French.
So uniformity and nationalism in schools and campus? More like this is a violation of human rights and constitution just as much as religion is. Bigotry on both accounts, it’s also religious discrimination. Islam is not universally understood among muslims to have the authority to interfere with national pride or identity. Presenting the ban with the reason that what the dress represents is in violation of France's standards as Brenus sees it is contradictory, and i doubt the ban was imposed for that reason.
Me - I think a lot of girls wear it today so Muslim boys won't think they're Christians or Jews, so they feel safer.
and a lot of people are learning to get the sand out of their vags. Societal/family pressure is irrelevant to the cloth itself and its widespread voluntary uses.