This isn’t rocket scientry. A women dressed (literally) from head to toe in full attire risks not only failing to come to the aid of the person drowning, but also risks drowning herself.
Two Muslim women in Gothenberg Sweden, Houda Morabet and Hayal Eroglu apparently disagreed with the common sense rules of the municipal swimming pool, and pressed charges of discrimination for being asked to either conform to the house rules or leave.
The Gothenburg court ruled the municipal pool had not discriminated against the women. It ordered the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination, which had brought the case on their behalf, to pay the City of Gothenburg’s costs of 30,850 kronor (4,375 dollars, 3,330 euros).
The women, Houda Morabet and Hayal Eroglu, were at the pool separately on two different occasions in April 2004, accompanying their young children but not to swim themselves. Both were wearing veils, long pants and long-sleeved tee-shirts because their religion does not allow them to reveal parts of their body in public.
This is somewhat similar to the situation that saw an eleven year old Muslim girl being ejected from a football match due to violating a ban on wearing headgear, in this case a scarf or “hijab”.
Rules are rules, and like FIFA’s ban on headgear, the municipal pool’s ban on fully clothed parents is meant to forestall injury, in this case helping the the parent to come to the aid of their child in distress. Fortunately, a Swedish court ruled against the women, of whom one could assume that they care more about their customs, than the safety of their own children. More here. *L* KGS
