The swim program aiming to help women intimidated by Australia s oceans conquer their fears sbs.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sbs.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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An ocean safety program aiming to help women become more confident in the water has returned after COVID-19 forced it to pause for a year.
The Swim Sisters program brings together women, many of whom are from Islamic backgrounds, who often have very little experience swimming in the ocean.
Yusra Metwally founded Swim Sisters in Sydney with the help of the Bondi Surf Club three years ago.
“Every summer, we see really horrible statistics about people drowning - a lot of them from western Sydney and from migrant communities,” she told SBS News.
Swim Sisters founder Yusra Metwally.
We ve grown used to seeing them on every beach along our coast. Hardy swimmers - mostly women to be fair - voluntarily braving icy waters in all weathers, and seeming to actually enjoy what to many would be punishment for a heinous crime!
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Photo: Silas Baisch/Unsplash
Recently, the McIver’s Ladies Baths in Sydney came under fire for their (since removed) policy stating “only transgender women who’ve undergone a gender reassignment surgery are allowed entry”. The policy was seemingly in defiance of New South Wales’ anti-discrimination and sex discrimination acts.
Managed since 1922 by the Randwick and Coogee Ladies Amateur Swimming Club, the baths are a haven for women and the last remaining women’s-only seawater pool in Australia.
Just over 100 public ocean pools sit on Australia’s rocky coast, most in New South Wales. Segregated baths gave women a place to experience the water, prohibited from most beach access until “continental” (or mixed gender) bathing was introduced in the early 20th century.
Symbolic move to launch swim program in Cronulla
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Sixteen years after the infamous Cronulla race riots, a program to teach surf safety to men from diverse communities was launched at North Cronulla Beach.
Omar Mahmoud and Feroz Sattar formed Swim Brothers in 2019 after a group of men from a mosque in western Sydney embarked on a father-son camping weekend near Forster in which some of the group were swept out to sea after wading into a rip. Luckily, two off-duty lifesavers saved them.
Swim Brothers has partnered with Surf Life Saving NSW to teach water and surf safety to men from diverse backgrounds at North Cronulla Beach.