Are traditional associations allowed to exclude women from customs? In the Allgäu, a woman sued her own club for this reason – and twice got right in court.
Memmingen – Even in the courtroom, Christiane Renz’s anticipation got out of hand. “The shoes are ready,” said the woman from the Allgäu, looking ahead to the next fishing day.
“Then we stand by the stream on time and itch in.” For years, Renz was denied the “itch”, the annual fishing out of the city stream in Memmingen with thousands of spectators, by her own club – because she is a woman. On Wednesday the Memmingen district court ruled: Participation is not traditionally reserved for men.
This “special right” for male members in the statutes of the association is “no longer justified”, said chairman judge Konrad Beß. In principle, clubs are free to set the rules for participation. But if they treat members differently, this must be justified with the purpose of the association. The custom of fishing in Memmingen is “not an absolutely faithful replica” of a historical event. Therefore women could participate without endangering the goal of home care.
Every summer on Fisherman’s Day, the participants jump into the Memminger Stadtbach and fetch trout from the water. Whoever catches the biggest fish becomes the fishing king. The event goes back to the fact that the urban stream used to be fished once a year to clean the canal. According to the association, this tradition can be traced back to the 16th century. Women have been excluded from this by statute since 1931. Member Christiane Renz had initially sued and won at the Memmingen district court. The Fischertagsverein then appealed.
The judgment of the Memmingen district court could now have an impact on other men’s traditions. The procedure was “beyond the individual case of particular importance for the general public,” said Beß. The first chairman of the Fischertagverein, Michael Ruppert, spoke of a “day that could affect many, many clubs all over Germany”. He thinks it is “a shame that club autonomy was not in the foreground”.
Many prominent men’s traditions in Germany were – in some cases after years of debate and protests – recently opened to women without a court ruling. For the first time last year, the Bremer Eiswettfest was not a purely men’s event: among the 800 guests, around 30 were women. Since November 2020, women have also been allowed to ride in the “Blutritt”, an equestrian procession in Weingarten in Upper Swabia. Previously, an application by the city to include “blood access” on the list of intangible cultural heritage failed due to the lack of openness to women.
However, the decision on Wednesday has not yet made a final decision as to whether women are allowed to participate equally at the Fisherman’s Day in Memmingen. Due to the importance of the case, the regional court allowed the possibility of an appeal at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. According to its own information, the Fisherman’s Day Association wants to decide on this step at a delegates’ meeting on Thursday. dpa
