Ladies Lounge anyone?
Here it was until the early to mid-1970s (1969 in Queensland),only men were permitted to drink in Public Bars: most pubs included a"Ladies' Lounge" furnished with chairs and tables where women and mencould drink together, but women were usually not admitted to the Lounge Barunless accompanied by a man, and were usually not permitted to buy their owndrinks.
Thissexual segregation in pubs began to break down after women's rights activistsbegan to publicly challenge the convention. One of the most famous incidents inthis informal campaign took place in January 1973, when a group of feministactivists staged a protest against the rules in the Public Bar of the Hotel Manlyin Sydney.
Whenthey entered and ordered drinks, they were refused service by the publican, whotypically claimed that the hotel had insufficient toilet facilities to caterfor women. The women's response deliberately echoed the tactics of theearly Suffragettes: they chained themselves to a railing that ranaround the bar. The event gained wide media attention, and caused the hotelindustry considerable embarrassment.
Withina few years, this long-standing sexist convention had virtually disappeared inurban areas, and it was eventually enforced by state and federalanti-discrimination legislation in succeeding years.
Saudi have or had a ladies door [biggrin]
