Today’s news / Minister aims to end ‘un-Danish’ gender segregated swimming
Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek has urged several mayors in a letter to stop gender-segregated swimming in their municipalities. (Archive photo). Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Minister aims to end ‘un-Danish’ gender segregated swimming

The Danish Integration Minister, Kaare Dybvad Bek, has urged 12 mayors to use ‘every tool available’ to prevent gender-segregated swimming in local pools, describing it as ‘un-Danish’ and a hindrance to integration. Following an inquiry by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration into the prevalence of gender-segregated swimming, it was discovered that out of the 92 responding municipalities, 12 offer gender-segregated swimming. Bek criticized the practice for letting ‘Middle Eastern norms’ dictate the use of public spaces and insisted on stopping it through a letter directed to the mayors. This issue will be revisited next year and is also part of a wider value debate in the Danish Parliament concerning challenges associated with immigration.