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Madrid school in sexism row over knitting for girls and football for boys

The Local Spain
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Madrid school in sexism row over knitting for girls and football for boys
Photo: belchonock/Depositphotos"

A school in the Madrid suburb of Alcorcón is being investigated after it emerged that while boys were offered an extracurricular trip to the Real Madrid stadium, female pupils were offered crochet classes.

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The Madrid regional education department, which funds the privately run Juan Pablo II Catholic school , said inspectors will be dispatched to the school to  investigate claims of sexual  discrimination.

The school is part of the Educatio Servanda chain of institutions, and is one of 18 government-subsidized private schoolsin the Madrid region that segregates the sexes.

Claims made on Cadena SER radio station include the fact that the school offered boys-only trips to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium while the girls outing was a visit to a soup kitchen for the poor.

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It was also claimed that a lunchtime crochet class was offered exclusively for  girls. The school could face fines if it is found that it breached the regulation that boys and girls must be given the same opportunities at school.

Juan Carlos Corvera, chairman of the foundation that oversees the Juan Pablo II and other Catholic schools, denied allegations of sexism in education. “Every pupil, according to his or her taste, chooses which  activity they prefer,” he said.  

It isn’t the first time the school has come under the spotlight.Last year the  school principal, Carlos Martínez, was fined by Madrid’s education department for sending out a letter to parents attacking a law that obliges schools to discuss the issues of gender identity in the classroom.

In the letter he compared recent legislation guaranteeing the rights of the capital’s LGBT community with “fanatical terrorism.”

READ MORE: Ikea vows to redesign sexist baby changing signs in Spanish stores

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