Women allowed to go topless at Berlin public swimming pools, city decides

Females in Berlin, Germany will soon be able to bathe topless in the city’s public swimming pools after the local government changed rules in response to a woman’s discrimination complaint. 

The unidentified woman turned to the senate’s ombudsperson’s office for equal treatment to demand that women, like men, can swim topless, according to a statement from the Berlin senate for justice, diversity and anti-discrimination. 

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 statement said. 

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A boy jumps into the water at the open air public pool in Berlin, Germany, in 2014. Women in the city will soon be able to go topless at its public pools, officials say.  (AP/Markus Schreiber)

Swimmers do their laps in the pool at the Pankow summer pool in Germany, in August 2022.  (Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images)

“The ombudsperson’s office very much welcomes the decision of the Baederbetriebe, because it establishes equal rights for all Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary, and because it also creates legal certainty for the staff at the Baederbetriebe,” Doris Liebscher, the head of the ombudsperson’s office, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying. 

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“Now it is important that the regulation is applied consistently and that no more expulsions or house bans are issued,” she added. 

The rule change in Berlin, Germany, follows a discrimination complaint filed by a woman. (AP/Markus Schreiber)

A swimmer jumps from a starting block into the water pool of an outdoor swimming pool, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bielefeld, Germany, Aug. 4, 2022. (Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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It’s not immediately clear when the new rules will go into effect. 

But the AP reports that in the past, woman who went topless at Berlin’s pools were asked to cover themselves or leave – and in some instances were banned from returning. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.