Tribunal allows anti-discrimination exemption for C-RACE women-only swimming sessions

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has allowed the City of Casey to continue women-only swimming sessions at its Casey Recreation and Aquatic Centre (C-RACE) in Narre Warren.

VCAT has allowed the Council a new exemption from anti-discrimination laws to continue the sessions at its YMCA-managed facility after the original exemption, obtained in 2008, expired.

In a recent VCAT hearing, the Council said that due to religious and cultural beliefs, Muslim women faced inequalities in terms of access to the pool during normal hours, stating "with the granting of the 2008 exemption, the women-only swimming program provided an opportunity to rectify that inequality."

The News.com website reported that the Council told VCAT that the program helped Muslim women integrate into Australian culture because there were cross-cultural exchanges with non-Muslims who also attended the sessions.

The Council also suggested that the sessions were popular with Afghan women, "due to their male-dominated culture".

In granting a new exemption, VCAT member Anna Dea said there was a need for all members of the Casey community to have the chance to learn to swim and be safe in the water, stating "this need extends to the women who wish to access (the pool) without men present for religious, cultural and personal reasons."

Women-only swimming sessions, popular with Muslim women, have long been viewed as successful examples of imaginative and inclusive programming. Pioneered in cities in the north of England in the early 1990s, they are increasingly being introduced in culturally-mixed areas with significant Muslim populations in Australian cities with other Victorian councils, including Monash and Greater Dandenong, running similar programs.

In March, groups including the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (ACT), the YWCA of Canberra and the Canberra Islamic Centre began lobbying for women-only swimming capabilities to be designed into Canberra's new Gungahlin Leisure Centre.

However, in a story 'Muslim women thrive with pool man ban', News.com reported conservative lobby group the Endeavour Forum as criticising the practice.

News.com quoted Convenor Babette Francis as having said Muslims were promoting the subjugation of women by demanding separate swimming sessions.

Image used for illustrative purposes only.

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