Gender segregation has been described as a hindrance for women's access to public spaces and religious knowledge. This paper, however, is looking at the opportunities gendered spaces provide for the development of female leaders in fields of production and transmission of religious Islamic knowledge. On the basis of research in German mosques, Islamic representational bodies and Muslim women's initiatives I will argue that gender separation may have exclusive effects but can also open spaces for the development of female religious authorities and distinct female practices of religion. While male authorities often dominate both gendered spheres, the creation of women's sections can be a vehicle for women to become indispensable transmitters of knowledge. However, while male authorities are present in the women's sections, cases of acknowledgement for female leaders in male spheres are rare. This paper explicates different strategies women employ to achieve positions for leadership and participation in both religious practice and community life. In contrast to other contexts, Muslim women in Germany are not only struggling with changes in structures of Islamic authority but, merely, trying to come up with basic structures in the fields of community organisation, religious practice, religious instruction, and knowledge production. The absence of historically grown institutions presents itself as ambivalent. On the one hand, knowledge production and diffusion are hardly institutionalised and largely influenced by trans-national contexts. On the other hand, there are no established or even 'outdated' structures to be overcome. This enables women to take an active role in shaping the Islamic religious sphere in Germany. This paper portrays three different structural approaches to enforce women's objectives: 1. gender segregated spaces and structures in mixed gender organisations, 2. integration and equality in mixed gender organisations which includes access to resources and decision making by both women and men of the congregation, 3. exclusive organisations for Muslim women with structure, space and decision making in the hands of women. The description of these strategies enables us to address not only the questions of how women use public space in Germany's mosques and teaching institutions but also what public space actually signifies in this context.