Are Ladies' Nights Legal?

Question

I recently went to a Macado's, for karaoke night. When we went to enter, the lady said it would be a 2$ "Cover fee". I asked if it was for both of us (my gf and I), or total, and she said it was just for me because im male. I have since found out that this is common practice in bars, nightclubs, and other things to ensure a nice ratio of men to women. Still, it feels very sexist to charge more for a specific gender. From the research I have done, it seems to be a grey area or illegal but largely unenforced. I am in Virginia, BTW.

The most on topic sources I have found are here and here.

I have looked for questions on this site, but have not seen any (that closely relate) after going through several pages.

Answer 1

US federal law prohibits gender discrimination in some spheres, including employment (42 USC 2000e-2), but it does not prohibit it in public accommodations (42 USC 2000a):

(a) Equal access

All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

To address my earlier comment, discounts based on age or gender are not covered by this law, but discounts based on race or religion would be.

The Virginia Human Rights Act is essentially a statement of policy regarding the enforcement of antidiscrimination prohibitions created by other laws. There does not seem to be any other Virginia law creating a prohibition on gender discrimination in public accommodations.

Answer 2

There have been several cases where bars promoting a Ladies Night have been sued, though cases at the Federal Level have not been successful. In the following States, Ladies Night events are violations of Civil Rights laws and are illegal (mostly judged by a state court of law): California, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

I would suggest reading into VA laws regaurding Gender Discrimination and what the process for filing a Civil Rights case.

Answer 3

As I suspected, my first answer was down voted, but now that the arguments are out, let me expand.

There have been lawsuits based on anti discrimination laws, that make charging more for a good or service for men illegal in some places. That does not apply to Virginia, the state that about which the question is asked. As sated in another answer, gender is not a protected class in Virginia for these purposes.

However, a cover charge is different from the cost of a good or service, because it can be applied as a way of deciding who is accepted in rather than as payment for a good or service. The business has the right to accept so many people at a certain time, and this is a way of regulating that. There do not seem to be any court cases that have found the cover fee itself to be a violation.