In a bid to address the gender pay gap, vegan café Handsome Her charges an 18 percent premium to male customers for one week out of every month.
The surcharge is not compulsory, and the gap is donated to women’s services.
Co-owner Alex O’Brien spoke to Seven News about the initiative, and sees the surcharge as an “opportunity to do some good”.
“If people aren’t comfortable paying it or if men don’t want to pay it, we’re not going to kick them out the door,” says O’Brien.
Handsome Her displays the ‘house rules’ on a chalkboard which states the café is a space for women by women. The first rule is women have priority seating, the second outlines the 18 percent premium to reflect the gender pay gap (2016) and the third is respect goes both ways.
And it’s this very chalkboard that has created a social media frenzy. Handsome Her addressed the attention in a statement on their Facebook page: “Who would have thought one little chalkboard would cause such a stir? Notes from the real world — yesterday and today we were jam-packed with customers showing their support. We’ve had men travel across town to visit us and pay ‘the man tax’ and throw some extra in the donation jar.”
Image credit: news.com.au
