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

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

According to a statement from the Berlin Senate for Justice, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination, the unidentified woman turned to the Senate’s ombudsman’s office for equal treatment and demanded that women, like men, be able to swim topless.

In response to the complaint and the ombudsman’s involvement in the matter, Berliner Baderbetriebe, 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 an open air public pool in Berlin, Germany in 2014. The city’s women will soon be able to go topless in 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. (Image combine via Wolfgang Kumm/Getty Images)

“The Office of the Ombudsman very much welcomes the Bederbetriebe’s decision, because it establishes equal rights for all Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary, and because it also creates legal certainty for Bedderbetriebe’s employees, Doris Liebscher, head of the Office of the Ombudsman, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

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“It is vital now that the regulation is consistently enforced and no further evictions or house bans are issued,” she said.

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

A swimmer jumps from the starting block into a pool of water of an outdoor swimming pool in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, August 4, 2022. (Friso Jentsch/The Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

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It is not immediately clear when the new rules will take effect.

But the AP reports that in the past, women found topless in Berlin’s pools were told to cover themselves or leave — and in some cases banned from returning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.