This café charges men 18% more than women. Here's why

The money raised will go to a women's service

An Australian café has gone viral because of its campaign against gender wage inequality. Handsome Her is a vegan café and a 'space for women, by women'. If you go there you are asked to follow their three 'house rules':

Rule #1. Women have priority seating.

Rule #2. Men are charged 18% more than women to reflect the gender pay gap. The money goes to a women's service.

Regla #3. Respect goes both ways.

Would LOVE everyones thoughts on this. My friends cafe in #Brunswick, Handsom Her - is for women by women AND an has a 18% gender tax! pic.twitter.com/tVSX3PO4q8

— Paige Cardona (@paigecardona) August 3, 2017

The co-owner of the cafe, Alex O’Brien, decided to introduce the non-compulsory 'man tax' in an attempt to bring the gender pay gap to the forefront of people's minds and make men 'stop and question their privilege a little bit.'

'I do want people to think about it, because we’ve had this (pay discrepancy) for decades and decades and we’re bringing it to the forefront of people’s minds,' said O'Brien.

A post shared by Handsome Her (@handsomeher) on Jul 11, 2017 at 3:06am PDT

Writing on its Facebook page, the café has said that the response has been largely positive:

'We’ve had men travel across town to visit us and pay "the man tax" and throw some extra in the donation jar – guys, you’re pretty neat,' the post read.

'I had a woman bring her daughters in today and when she came up to the till and saw our gorgeous vulva stones and our period sticker packs she beamed, thanked us for what we were doing and said "what a beautiful place to take my daughters."'

The café also thanked its staff for their support and for helping to get 'Australia talking about the long-forgotten gender pay gap.'