The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has determined that charging towel fees only to women at public bathhouses constitutes gender discrimination.
The commission announced on the 2nd that it had judged the act of a bathhouse that charged only women for towel rentals as discriminatory, and recommended administrative guidance to the mayor of the relevant jurisdiction.
The establishment in question provided two towels free of charge to men with an entrance fee of 9,000 won, while charging women an additional 500 won per towel. In response, a customer who visited the bathhouse filed a complaint with the commission.
The bathhouse explained, "We imposed additional charges because the towel return rate in the women's sauna was low, and we specified the paid towel policy on the price guide in accordance with the city office's recommendation."
Since the Public Health Control Act does not regulate pricing decisions for bathhouse businesses, there is no legal basis to sanction the bathhouse. However, the commission pointed out, "Towel loss is the result of individual users' actions, and applying unfavorable conditions uniformly to an entire gender without statistical or empirical evidence raises concerns about generalization based on gender stereotypes."
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