Coogee women's pool saved

By Sarah Peart

SYDNEY -- An anti-discrimination tribunal on March 31 dismissed as “vexatious” and “frivolous” against the Randwick and Coogee Ladies Swimming Club and the Randwick Council over McIver's Baths (Coogee women's pool).

For over 70 years the pool has been open exclusively to women. Two years ago, Coogee resident Leon Wolk began campaigning for access to the pool, claiming that opening the baths to men would “put women on a level of equality, of responsibility”.

In response to Wolk's comment, the Democratic Socialist federal candidate for Sydney, Karen Fletcher, said, “Wolk has been misled by the meaning of equality. Treating everyone in the same way does not address problems of inequality.

“Affirmative action is needed because women are discriminated against in society, and have different needs that must be recognised and acted on.”

McIver's Baths is used by older women, pregnant women, nursing women, Muslim women, survivors of rape and domestic violence and women from different ethnic backgrounds. It is known as a place where women can feel safe and don't have to deal with unwanted attention from men.

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