Catalan Public Pools Ordered To Allow Women To Swim Topless

The Catalan government allows women to swim topless in public pools. The right to swim topless has been implemented in Catalan equality law since 2020, however, several public pools continued to ban women who exercised this right.

Now the Department of Equality and Feminism of the Catalan government has sent a written letter to the town and city halls, reminding them of their obligation to comply with the regional government law that allows people to swim topless regardless of their gender.

Women Can Swim Topless In Catalonia 

The letter stated that preventing women from going topless "excludes part of the population" and violates a person's right to choose with regard to their body.

The letter also stated that local authorities must defend against discrimination for any motive, such as sex, gender, religion, or dress. Public pools that fail to comply with this equality law will have to pay a fine of 500,000 euros.

The feminist group Mugrons Lliures (Free Nipples) has welcomed the decision. A spokeswoman for the group said that this was a gender equality issue because while men could go topless, women couldn’t. She added that she wondered why it took so long for this rule to be implemented but was very happy that it was finally in place.

A Spanish swimmer who visits the public pool said that every time she went to the pool topless she used to be asked to cover up.

Another swimmer stated that everyone, regardless of their gender, should be able to swim topless if they want to. She noted that while she understood that private pools were subject to the owner’s decisions, public pools should provide equality for both men and women. She said that when men don’t wear a top, women don’t have to wear one if they don’t feel like it.

Last year, the Catalan government, which is left-leaning, launched a campaign to normalise women going topless if they wanted to. A video released as part of the campaign stated that the sexualisation of women starts in their childhood and continues throughout their lives. It pointed out that asking women to cover their breasts was proof of that.

Suggested Reading: Women Are Judged For Going Braless While Men Can Even Go Topless: Hypocrisy Much?