Restaurant Fined for Sexist Menus

15:24 November 07, 2019
By: Christian Willbern

La Rosa Nautica, a restaurant in Lima, Peru, was fined $62,000 for giving different menus to women who were dining with men, according to WDSU.

If there was a man and a woman dining together, the restaurant would allegedly give the man a blue menu with dishes and prices on them and the woman a gold menu that didn't feature prices on the dishes.

In a 3-2 vote, the National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) ruled that the restaurant will have to give customers the same menu regardless of gender.

When the issue was first raised to them, La Rosa Nautica defended the practice, saying that it "extolls the position of women, considering it a pleasure for them to enjoy a romantic evening with their partner without taking into account the cost of the services," according to WDSU.

Liliana Cerrón, an official with INDECOPI, told The Associated Press "These small things may seem harmless, but at the end of the day, they are the basis of a chauvinistic construct reinforcing differences between men and women."

In addition to the fine, the restaurant must immediately start giving the same menu to men and women and, according to WDSU, post a sign stating, "it is prohibited to discriminate against consumers on the grounds of origin, race, sex, language, religion, opinion, economic condition, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or other grounds."

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