Right to go topless applies in private communal swimming pools too, government says

The Catalan equality and feminism ministry is working to extend the right for women to go topless to private communal swimming pools. As Tània Verge, the equality Minister, announced last week, women are already allowed to go topless in council-run public swimming pools just as they can do on beaches.

The government is now working together with property managers to make sure that there will be no cases of discrimination in any swimming pool this summer - tackling shared facilities in apartment blocks.

The ministry has presented a new campaign with the slogan 'My swimming pool does not discriminate' in order to make these spaces available for everyone. Verge has used this campaign to address those who have felt excluded from pools, as she invited them to "occupy these spaces and make use of them." 

For the equality ministry, it is "discriminatory" to ban topless women, breastfeeding, longer swimsuits, or barring citizens for their ethnicity or origin. She said the same regulations should also be applied to private swimming pools. 

Verge adds that "It is simple: wearing a swimsuit that covers your genitals and wanting to cool off are the only conditions necessary to go to a pool in Catalonia. But this has not been the case for many years, especially for women."

Last summer, the Equality and Non-Discrimination Office registered various incidents of discrimination in public swimming pools.