GENEVA (AP) — After a near-90 year ban, women can again swim topless legally in Geneva’s lake and Rhone River without running the risk of a fine.
Geneva’s regional council has voted to modify a 1929 ordinance that banned women from swimming topless in the city’s main natural waterways. The change doesn’t apply to public swimming pools or swimming totally naked.
The issue made headlines locally last summer after one woman who was fined for swimming topless complained about paradoxical laws that allowed women to sunbathe topless, but not swim that way.
She complained the law was sexist and deprived women of the same rights as men enjoy.
Nicolas Bolle, an official with Geneva’s security department, on Thursday confirmed the council’s action a day earlier.