# Discount pricing for women: legal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042 "2010-06-13T20:47:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/61 "2010-06-17T10:38:57Z")
Lately I’ve been to quite a few bars and brewpubs, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ladies night. I don’t go to bars to pick up women, I’m not that kind of person. About 95% of the time I’m there to meet people I already know and to hang out and have a good time. So even though I love the ladies, Ladies Night is discriminatory for me because I don’t give a crap if more women are there or not. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/62 "2010-06-17T15:48:47Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Do you mean “up” to the level of the least common denominator? Or down to the level of the highest common factor? The least common denominator of any two or more numbers is always equal to or greater than the largest. I thought that was the least common multiple. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/63 "2010-06-17T18:21:10Z")
I’ll plead “common colloquial expression”; perhaps it’s an Americanism … or perhaps it’s wonderfully ironic that my little anti-egalitarianism rant should contain an incorrect usage meant to insure that the message could be understood by even the least educated reader. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/64 "2010-06-17T18:37:46Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I know senior citizens’ communities are allowed to reguire residents to be over 55, but I was under the impression that it was illegal for a landlord to refuse to rent an apartment to a family with children. In the past (ie before the '60s) it was quite common for leases to have no-children clause, but I don’t think that’s legal anymore. Hmmm. I lived in a “no kids” apartment complex when I was in college in the 70s, but a little research shows that most states prohibit those now. I didn’t know that. Interestingly, in Montana, if the owners of a duplex live in one unit, they can specify no children in the other unit according to this [state-by-state breakdown](http://law.jrank.org/pages/11868/Leases-Rental-Agreements.html). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/65 "2010-06-17T21:44:05Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I thought that was the least common multiple. Means the same thing (IOW, you’re right but so are they). ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/66 "2010-06-18T01:52:19Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I never thought about lesbians getting free drinks before. Good catch, **Gas**. And thus…a gay bar was born. ---
**Author:** ![LitWitLou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@LitWitLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LitWitLou)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/67 "2010-06-18T08:20:15Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > But this isn’t Great Debates and we’re not talking about whether business owners should have the freedom to discriminate but whether discount pricing on the basis of gender is discrimination and whether it’s legal. Well I’m not sure how great it is but it sure looks like a debate. When you say “we’re” do you mean as in not me? Geez, I thought I was in on the discussion pretty much from the beginning. And I thought discount pricing on the basis of gender was understood to be illegal. Hence we can no longer have “ladies nights.” The question was what constitutes discrimination as in the “ladies night” example. And whether beauty parlors can charge women more than they charge men without it being discrimination. Do you follow now? Regards, Lou ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/68 "2010-06-18T09:49:46Z")
> [@LitWitLou](#): > > Well I’m not sure how great it is but it sure looks like a debate. > > When you say “we’re” do you mean as in not me? Geez, I thought I was in on the discussion pretty much from the beginning. > > And I thought discount pricing on the basis of gender was understood to be illegal. Hence we can no longer have “ladies nights.” The question was what constitutes discrimination as in the “ladies night” example. And whether beauty parlors can charge women more than they charge men without it being discrimination. > > Do you follow now? > Regards, > Lou The OP was specifically asking about whether ladies nights were legal. So your thoughts about what is and isn’t generally understood are incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/69 "2010-06-18T13:22:20Z")
> [@LitWitLou](#): > > Well I’m not sure how great it is but it sure looks like a debate. > > When you say “we’re” do you mean as in not me? Geez, I thought I was in on the discussion pretty much from the beginning. > > And I thought discount pricing on the basis of gender was understood to be illegal. Hence we can no longer have “ladies nights.” The question was what constitutes discrimination as in the “ladies night” example. And whether beauty parlors can charge women more than they charge men without it being discrimination. > > Do you follow now? > Regards, > Lou Read the title of the post. “Is it legal” indicates a factual question on legality. And confined to legality, as per the rules and customs of General Questions. If you would like to gently opine of the merits of our laws, take it to IMHO; to open up a no holds barred debate take it to Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/70 "2010-06-18T14:22:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > There’s definitely pricing discrimination abroad in the land - haircuts, dry cleaning, etc. Don’t forget car insurance! ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/71 "2010-06-18T14:24:02Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Only on the SDMB: People who by their usernames appear to be male, railing against the potential presence in a bar of a lot of cheap, drunken women. Here in London it’s very common for bars to make it difficult for male groups to come in (and by group I just mean “more than 1 person”), but have no restriction on women coming in. Indeed, if I’m out with, say, 2 male friends it’s not at all uncommon for a bouncer to just directly say “Oh, you don’t have any girls…Sorry, you can’t come in unless there are girls in your group”. While this leads to a disproportionate number of women in many venues, I would prefer that there wasn’t this aggro. If there really are too many guys I’ll see for myself and leave (or not: I don’t necessarily want to meet girls every time I go out). ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042/72 "2010-06-18T17:58:45Z")
As far as a woman’s clothing goes, that fact that they are more to buy and clean is not discriminatory. If I take my wife’s dress to get dry cleaned they aren’t going to charge me more than they would charge her. Here the difference is based on the service, not the customer. It’s like the barbers who charge X for one length of hair and Y for a different length. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discount-pricing-for-women-legal/543042.md?page=3)