Some of the problems Ms. Klöckner describes are real, though one could always argue about the scope. In schools in areas with a high percentage of immigrants, dealing with parents who request that their daughters be exempt from class trips, for example, is a bitter reality for teachers. Forced marriage in Germany is real, too (though probably fairly rare). Some immigrant girls in Germany do not have the same chances and freedoms as their classmates do — and Ms. Klöckner is right in saying that feminists should address that problem.

Violence by newly arrived immigrant men is a fact, too. Figures from Bavaria published last September show a 50 percent increase in reported cases of sexual crimes against women in the first six months of 2017. In 18 percent of those cases, the suspect was an immigrant.

Criminologists were quick to caution against a one-sided interpretation of these figures: Immigrants were much more likely to be reported than white men when committing a crime, they argued, and refugees in general in Germany tend to be young men — a group that, independent of their origin, has a higher-than-average probability of committing violent crimes. They also stressed that over all, women were safer in public than they were 20 years ago.

And yet there is no getting around the uncomfortable reality: The increase in violence against women is real. And what Ms. Klöckner writes is probably true: Though the threat may be negligible statistically, some women are more afraid than they used to be, especially when they are out alone. Clearly, this is something that should concern German feminists.

Still, some on the left argue that feminists should not attribute patriarchal behavior to certain groups, and that this is its real strength. They argue that if we focus on patriarchy as something coming from the outside, we will overlook it when it’s homegrown.

Morally, this may be true. There is no violation of women’s and girls’ rights that’s more or less wrong.

Politically, however, this position is not very useful. Finding an effective remedy always needs to be preceded by a careful analysis of the causes. Taking into account the background of the perpetrators is a necessity, however uncomfortable.