Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Corrective measures ordered for bathhouse charging women extra fees

koreatimes.co.kr · 5h · first reportShare

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has ruled that the common practice of charging women separately for towels and soap at public bathhouses while providing them free of charge to men constitutes gender discrimination. NHRCK’s Discrimination Remedy Committee determined that a bathhouse that was providing towels and soap free of charge to men while imposing an additional fee on women amounted to discrimination. It ordered the bathhouse to take corrective measures and recommended that the head of the local government provide administrative guidance, the commission said Thursday. The case began in September last year, when a female bathhouse customer filed a complaint with the NHRCK, arguing that it was unfair for only women to be charged for towels and soap. The bathhouse said towels were frequently lost in the women’s section and that it had therefore begun charging nonmember female customers an additional fee. It also claimed that other bathhouses operated in the same