Burkini permitted in Geneva city swimming pools

Making waves: a swimmer in a bikini at an open-air pool in Berlin Keystone / Stephanie Pilick

Geneva’s city council has amended its regulations for public sports facilities to allow people to wear burkinis in the city’s swimming pools.

The change had been pushed by the political left. In the end, 38 votes were in favour of the amendment, 33 against.

Marie Barbey-Chappuis, the mayor of Geneva and head of the sports department, tried to convince the city council to vote no. “In most cases the wearing of burkinis is not the choice of women but the result of a patriarchal society, which is what the left is fighting against,” she argued.

The current regulation has been working satisfactorily for five years and meets the requirements of hygiene and safety, she said.

For proponents of the amendment, the burkini ban marginalised an already vulnerable section of the population. In their eyes, the burkini is just a simple swimming costume. Other swimming pools in French-speaking Switzerland already have such rules. It’s about showing empathy and inclusivity, said a politician from the left-wing Social Democratic Party.

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party has already announced that it will launch a referendum against this change. It said the left was playing with the wishes of minorities and campaigning without caring about the hygiene problems the burkini could cause, said a People’s Party politician.