Muslim Life in Germany - Deutsche Islam Konferenz

182 Religiousness and religious practice
ed by parents, such as single-sex sports and swimming classes
or single-day school trips without overnight stays – either on the
basis of experience or for fear that a substantial proportion of
their pupils will reject certain forms of teaching. 65
In order to obtain a rounded picture and to emphasize
the proportion of “genuine objectors”, figure 47 considers only
those pupils to whom the corresponding classes and activities
were available and who either participated in these or declined
to do so for religious or other reasons. Considering only the
group of pupils concerned, it emerges that the overwhelming
majority of both Muslims and non-Muslims with a corresponding
migrant background do participate in the stated classes and
activities. Swimming classes and school trips are revealed as
problematic issues for Muslim girls, with a share of 7 and 10 per
cent respectively failing to participate in these activities. The
lower level of participation among Muslim girls in comparison
to boys is statistically significant, indicating gender-specific unequal
treatment of Muslim girls with regard to these two types
of school activities. 66 Also to be mentioned in this context
65 Interviewees were asked explicitly about the school trips, which are the subject
of public debate, extending over more than one day and including at least one
overnight stay.
66 With regard to swimming lessons, this finding is supported by a qualitative
study of Muslim sportswomen in Germany. In order to be able to pursue sport,
many of these sportswomen have deliberately chosen a type of sport, which
does not breach the requirement for the body to remain covered, such as karate
and tae kwon do. One of the sportswomen, who had been a successful competitive
swimmer up to the age of 15, deliberately switched to karate after her father
banned her from continuing to swim, as long clothes are worn in karate (see
Kleindienst-Cachay 2001). According to the findings of the German supplementary
study to Pisa 2000, however, 15-year-old girls of Turkish origin are markedly
less likely to be members of a sports club (21 per cent) than boys of Turkish origin
(68 per cent). The differences between the sexes are less pronounced among
young Germans (Mutz/Peterson 2009: 34f).