Privacy curtains to allow female Muslims to swim without worrying about men watching are causing controversy for a western Sydney council.
The privacy curtains have been installed at Belgravia Leisure, a council-run facility in Auburn.
The curtain runs around a glass wall which is drawn when female-only swimming sessions are held for two hours every Sunday and at other times during the week.
“The curtains, which are retractable and can be used or not used at any time, ensure we have provided a space that is accessible to and inclusive for all,” Cumberland Council general manager Malcolm Ryan said in a statement to A Current Affair.
The push for inclusiveness has been applauded by Silma Ihram, head of the Australian Muslim Woman’s Association.
“Good on the council for understanding there is a number of people who can’t swim because of their religious background,” she said.
But legendary swimming coach Dick Caine, who has trained numerous Olympic swimmers, believes the push for inclusiveness is actually causing division.
“It is dividing Australia, it is dividing families,” Caine said.
“The thing of this segregation, the thing of making them separate, it’s making them that they are different. That people think they are either better than us or that there’s something strange about them or that the males are standing over them.”
Ms Ihram has hit back at Caine’s claims, saying he didn’t understand the role of the curtain.
“If people are going to take that attitude, then they are forgetting what the purpose is,” she said.
“You never know. We might find the next Olympic champion coming out of that private swimming pool, having the confidence and the skills to compete on the international stage.”