Gender gap in religiosity and interfaith marriage attitudes: Muslim migrants in Germany

Abstract

Among the various factors influencing matrimonial choices, religion holds long-standing sociological significance. Utilizing a unique dataset, “Muslim Life in Germany,” this study examines the attitudes of Muslim migrants toward their actual or imaginary children’s decisions to marry individuals from different religious backgrounds. The results indicate that the gender of the respondents, the gender of their actual or imaginary children, and the subjective, individual, and communal religiosity of Muslim migrants are significantly associated with the level of approval for their children’s interfaith marriages. This study establishes a framework to discuss how interfaith marriage attitudes are gendered, manifesting in the differential standards applied to daughters versus sons, and further gendered by the distinct standards employed by mothers and fathers, each influenced by varying levels of different types of religiosity—incorporating the “religious gender gap” phenomenon.