Trendy bar's female-first policy faces challenge

One of Auckland's trendiest nightspots could face a human rights investigation after announcing a "ladies first" policy at the door.

Spy Bar on the Viaduct Basin has announced a "female friendly" policy where men will be left waiting in the queue as women go past. "Guys, we are a female friendly environment, and therefore ladies are given priority at the door," the bar announced in a newsletter to its membership.

The policy is active discrimination, according to human rights lawyer Tony Ellis.

"On the face of it, it sounds like discrimination on the basis of sex. It's not right, basically. It's not a recognised exception under the [Human Rights] Act. It's hardly a convent or anything."

The Human Rights Commission told the Herald on Sunday that it would investigate the issue if there was a complaint.

Spy Bar managing director Ali Yildiz told the Herald on Sunday the policy was used if there were too many men in the bar. At that point the door would be closed until some men left. Then, waiting men and women would be allowed in from the queue. If women left, the door remained closed.

Spy manager Adam Bennett defended the policy - he said it was there to make women more comfortable and ensure they were protected.

"Obviously, you've got to look after the women. If you have a club full of guys, the testosterone heats up and fights break out. It's not the best atmosphere, and the girls feel uncomfortable."

But that's not the point, according to Ellis. Even if it's based on good intentions, discrimination is still discrimination - there's no difference under the Act.

"It may have good motives, but the difficulty with these sorts of things is that the motives of people discriminating are not relevant. They could say, 'Right, no blacks because they're going to beat people up,' - it does engender a culture of discrimination."

Ellis said there was no place for such a policy in modern New Zealand.

"It stereotypes a vision of men and women - that men harass and women get harassed. It's very paternalistic and 19th century. It's laden with value judgements of both men and women. And men and women's behaviour has changed. This 19th century attitude has no place in today's society."

But Bennett was upset that the bar could be perceived in that way. He said they just wanted to make sure they had the right gender balance in the bar to make sure everyone had a good night. "That's not the way we want it to come across. We're not trying to discriminate against guys. But there's more guys [that line up outside the bar] than girls."

The policy was also about sexual harassment and drinks spiking, said Bennett. There had been spiking problems in the bar, which were impossible to police.

Having a balanced gender ratio would make women feel looked after. "You don't hear about men getting their drinks spiked, and when women get sexually harassed, it's not a good buzz. "

That's no excuse, said Ellis. Like in a workplace, the bar needed good systems to deal with sexual harassment complaints. If need be, they could simply remove someone causing trouble.

"The person being harassed should complain to management, and the offender can be asked to leave, rather than target all men, because all men aren't harassers. What happens if women start to harass - does the reverse apply? If they were asking my advice I would tell them to reconsider."

But Bennett is confident that he will have the backing of the public, including men.

"If it's their sister or their girlfriend or their mother or their daughters [getting harassed], I think every guy will be on our side."