Coventry women-only swim sessions rise in lifeguard training boost

PE teacher Saajida Imran has qualified as a lifeguard amid an increase in women-only swimming sessions

More women-only swimming sessions are being put on in Coventry after a push to train more female lifeguards.

It comes as some women said they felt uncomfortable swimming with men, either for religious reasons or because they felt body conscious.

In a bid to tackle health inequalities in the Foleshill area, the Positive Youth Foundation charity helped set up the classes.

Five new female lifeguards have now qualified at the Centre AT7 site.

Make-up artist and mum-of-four Amna Sami, is one of them.

"I wear the hijab, so modesty is really important to me and I think just having that separation as well between male and female is quite important to me," she said.

"The lady session offers me a chance to get that exercise in, get the swimming in and meet other ladies from all faiths as well so it's brilliant."

Faaria Iqbal says she learned to swim as a child but had to stop at the age of 11

The number of sessions at the city's leisure centre increased in January from two to five.

Faaria Iqbal is a 27-year-old business consultant. She learned to swim as a child, but stopped in adolescence, only starting again recently at the women-only groups.

"I stopped having swimming lessons when I turned 11 because that's around about the age where I guess you're classed as an adult and as a woman in Islam," she said.

PE teacher Saajida Imran has trained to be a lifeguard and stopped regular swimming at a similar age.

"I started swimming from a young age, maybe around seven or eight years old. And I loved swimming, I went through my bronze all the way to gold," the 24-year-old said.

"However, at the age of 11 or 12, I stopped swimming due to religious reasons.

"And so from pre-teens to early adulthood I would swim sporadically when there were female-only sessions.

"However, it was with the risk that there could be a male lifeguard and so unfortunately it wasn't as consistent as I would've liked."

Make-up artist, Amna Sami has also recently qualified as a lifeguard

Other swimmers attend simply because they feel more comfortable, including student Zoe Taylor.

"It's a really nice atmosphere being around here and not having to feel self-conscious about myself and what I'm wearing," she said.

"All the ladies here respect each other and we all wear whatever we want and we all respect each other for that as well."

Nationally, more women go swimming than men, but despite this, according to Swim England, women across all ethnicities are less likely to be able to swim a length than men.

For student Zoe Taylor, the women-only sessions means she can swim in a "respectful" environnment

According to the national governing body's England Swims research:

•Fifty four per cent of South Asian males and 76% of South Asian females are unable to swim 25m

•Twelve per cent of white males and 17% of white females are unable to swim 25m

•Forty four per cent of black males and 67% of black females are unable to swim 25m

•Twenty eight per cent of East Asian males and 51% of East Asian females are unable to swim 25m

However, despite ability, according to the Swim England survey, 93% of people in all ethnically diverse communities want to ensure their children can swim.

The next goal in Coventry is to train more female swimming teachers - something Ms Iqbaal is keen to do.

"There's quite a large proportion of women who don't know how to swim, so to be able to be a swimming teacher and be able to teach it would be a really good thing," she said.