This is the cafe that is charging a “man tax”
One cafe owner in Melbourne, Australia, decided to take a different approach on the the issue of pay gap by charging men more.
Alex O’Brien, owner of the Handsome Her vegan cafe is now charging her male customers an 18% mark up, while women pay the standard price. The proceeds are going towards Australian women’s charities, according to the Independent.
So far, O’Brien claims she has not encountered problems with this, as the men who have been asked to pay extra have not opposed. The owner believes that the man tax has helped men contemplate the privileges they experience in the work place.
loading...
Would LOVE everyones thoughts on this. My friends cafe in #Brunswick, Handsom Her – is for women by women AND an has a 18% gender tax! pic.twitter.com/tVSX3PO4q8
— Paige Cardona (@paigecardona) August 3, 2017
“We’re bringing it [the gender pay gap] to the forefront of people’s minds,” O’Brien told the Mirror. “I like that it is making men stop and question their privilege a little bit. One of my friends who works for a not-for-profit women’s service was talking about the pay gap and I thought it was a good idea, so we decided that one week every month we would charge men an 18 per cent premium, which we will donate.”
The owner of the cafe said that men who refuse to pay the extra amount will not be asked to pay the extra amount. “If men don’t want to pay it, we’re not going to kick them out the door,” she said. “It’s just an opportunity to do some good.”
Alex O’Brien chose the specific number of 18% as a reflection of the pay gap in Australia. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australian women only earned 82% of what men were receiving yearly.
Loading...