After a woman filed a complaint with the State Office for Equal Treatment because she was not allowed to swim “topless” in a Berlin swimming pool like others, the bathing establishments are adjusting the rules.
From now on, no one has to cover their breasts in Berlin’s swimming pools. That said a spokeswoman for the baths on Thursday when asked by rbb. “Swimming ‘topless’ is equally allowed for everyone,” said the spokeswoman and also made it clear that this also applies to the lounge areas in the summer and indoor pools.
The administration of justice had previously announced that “swimming with a shirtless upper body will also be possible in the future for female people or for people with a breast read as a woman”. First on Wednesday had the “taz” reported.
The trigger was a successful discrimination complaint with the responsible ombudsman: A woman had complained there because she was refused the right to swim “topless” like men in a swimming pool, even though the house and bathing rules of the pool companies do not make any gender-specific determinations. There only the wearing of “commercial swimwear” is required.
The head of the ombudsman’s office of the state office for equal treatment – against discrimination, Doris Liebscher, said after the decision of the bathing establishments that the ombudsman’s office welcomes it “because it creates equal rights for all Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary and because also it creates legal certainty for the staff in the bathing establishments”. It is now a matter of applying the regulation consistently and, in appropriate cases, no longer issuing evictions or house bans.
The topic was discussed last summer. According to “taz”, a woman is said to have contacted the ombudsman in December after being asked by the supervisory staff at a swimming pool to cover her breasts and after she failed to do so, she was expelled from the pool. Your complaint was successful. After the clarification of the pool operations, there is now a binding specification.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, March 9th, 2023, 11:20 a.m