The judges said the policy violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the federal Fair Housing Act, which “makes it an unlawful housing practice to “discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities therewith, because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status or national origin.”The judges said “inequitable features” in the swimming schedule was unlawful in that on weeknights, women were allotted 3.5 hours of pool time after 5 p.m., while the men had 16.5 hours. Only 25 hours were allocated for people of all sexes.

Judge Thomas Ambro ruled that “women with regular-hour jobs thus have little access to the pool during the work week, and the schedule appears to reflect particular assumptions about the roles of men and women.”

While they stopped short of ruling that any gender-segregated pool is unlawful, one of the judges expressed “vehement disapproval of segregation” over the “separate, but equal” policies.

The American Civil Liberties Union applauded the decision.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for gender equality,” said Sandra Park, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Women’s Right Project, in a statement.