The state government in Berlin has announced that women will be allowed to go topless at the city’s public swimming pools.
The move was taken after a discrimination complaint by a woman who was not allowed to go topless in a swimming pool in the capital.
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The Berlin senate for justice, diversity, and anti-discrimination said the woman turned to the senate’s ombudsperson’s office for equal treatment to demand that women, like men, can swim topless.
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In reaction to the complaint and the ombudsman’s involvement in the case, the Berliner Baederbetriebe, which runs the city’s public pools, decided to change its clothing rules, the Senate said.
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Ombudsman chief Doris Liebscher said: ‘The ombudsperson’s office very much welcomes the decision of the Baederbetriebe, because it establishes equal rights for all.
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Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary, and because it also creates legal certainty for the staff at the Baederbetriebe.’
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She added: ‘Now it is important that the regulation is applied consistently and that no more expulsions or house bans are issued.’
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In the past, women who bared their breasts at Berlin pools were asked to cover themselves or to leave the pool and were sometimes banned from returning.