In March, the city of Seattle will begin offering women-only swims at four city pools in order to serve women who cannot swim in a co-ed environment for cultural, personal or religious reasons.
For the past decade, private groups have rented the city’s pools to offer single-sex swims, drawing mostly Muslim women and some Orthodox Jews, along with some who chose the swims for personal reasons (“Women-only swims draw crowds but face challenges,” Real Change, June 29, 2011). The windows are covered during the swims, which are staffed by female lifeguards. ...