RantCrush Top 5: August 9, 2017

A vegan café in Victoria, Australia, has introduced a “man tax.” Men will be charged 18 percent more than women in order to address the gender pay gap. The proceeds will be donated to a women’s service organization. The rules also say that women have priority seating and that respect goes both ways.

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

“I like that it is making men stop and question their privilege a little bit,” said owner Alex O’Brien. However, the “tax” is actually voluntary. The idea came from a brainstorming session to find ways to raise money for charity. As expected, the news of the man tax made a lot of people upset and many called it discrimination. But a lot of reactions were very positive and the café owners reported they had a ton of customers over the weekend who even happily donated more than 18 percent to the charity.

love it! Spaces for ladies is always great and highlighting the pay gap like this is harder for people to ignore.

— Fiona Cannon (@FiCan) August 3, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.