A popular Peruvian restaurant has learned that sexism comes at a price.
The seaside restaurant, a favourite among tourists and Instagrammers, has been fined $90,000 for handing out different menus to men and women. The women received ornate gold menus, which didn’t show the cost of expensive dishes, while men were given plain, blue menus with pricing details.
The restaurant defended its practice, saying it allowed women “to enjoy a romantic evening with their partner without taking into account the cost of the services”. Which maybe it did — until they checked the joint bank account balance.
It’s not the first time businesses have paid the price for sexist practices. A UK pub was slammed for banning female singers because the manager said women can’t sing rock songs (sorry, Joan Jett).
Lawyers in the US can now be fined for sexist language in the courtroom, after one too many patronising utterances of “honey” and “darling” by professional counterparts.
British companies that use sexist tropes in their advertising, like women struggling to park a car or men refusing to do housework, are also facing fines.
And, as usual, Australia has kept it classy, with a Darwin pub banned from hosting its weekly “Tits Out Tuesday” night, on the grounds that audience participation isn’t allowed under its adult entertainment licence.
Joan Jett? Seriously? Virtually anyone else would have been a better example, Pat Benatar even
I’m surprised about the dual menus. This was common practice at expensive places and I didn’t realise it was a problem. It was more about the paying dinner host not bothering their guest or guests about price matters. What if the menus were handed out the other way around ?
I’m sure all the poor majority of Peruvian women will feel so much better now.
Mostly though I can’t help wondering if this has been fact checked. It has the ring of a “PC gone mad” stooge story.
It does check out with the Indecopi website. No mention of a requirement to go Dutch though lol.