Its not just that women dont seem to exist anymore but policies to encourage women to take part in sport and to encourage more conservative communities to integrate seem to get thrown out of the window as soon as a man in a frock rocks up.
My understanding was that women only swim sessions were often origionally set up for Asian women but that other middle aged women with wobbly bits also access them. And that sport and exercise are generally encouraged for both groups.
Knowing that you might have to share a changing room with a man, and not be able to do anything about it, will deter both groups. In this policy conflict the needs of cross dressing men seem to clearly outweigh the desire to encourage physical activity, and to some extent social integration, amongst women.
I was involved in running a swim club. We got all manner of stick from our inability to attract many Asian and black kids. (Plenty of East Asian, Hispanic, Lebanese and East Euopeans so we had some reach.) We tried but faced a whole load of cultural barriers. Basically if parents don't swim it is unlikely that children will learn.
Yet the same local authorities, pool providers and sports organisations who used to require diversity monitoring and question the results, are the same people that, without any obvious hesitation, are destroying good work achieved so far.
Particularly sad in Glasgow which has a large, long established and well integrated Asian community.