U Not Gonna Like This

This story comes from the Cool Tools 4 Men Blog:

Battle of the sexes leaves men groping for equality
By Leo Lewis in Tokyo
July 24, 2006

What started as a desperate measure to protect women from gropers on trains has blossomed into a fully fledged movement. Single-sex places have become a lifestyle choice for many women and a source of outrage for men.

Once women-only carriages became standard on many Japan Railways services and the Tokyo Metro, other businesses quickly followed. Spas and gyms were among the first to pick up the trend, with restaurants, comic-book cafés and convenience stores joining the no-men-allowed movement.

Hotels, apartment blocks and pachinko gambling parlours are experimenting, and restaurants that do not exclude men have taken to giving free desserts to women.

The “women only" trend flies in the face of a massive government effort to put Japanese men and women closer together. Facing tumbling birth rates and a potential demographic crisis, the Government has tried to promote marriage matchmakers and encouraged companies to give staff time off for dating.


“If men want not to be discriminated against, they should have better manners,” Ms Suzuki said. “They sit so they take up lots of space, read newspapers wide open, leaf through pornography in public and some are really arrogant, too.”

Takashi Naito, the male owner of Men-Ya Sora, said: “I wanted to have as many repeat customers as possible and I noticed that female diners often asked me to give them a table away from men who were drunk and noisy.”

another story via al-Reuters:

Women applaud no-men, pink-striped metro cars
Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:17am ET

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Women commuters filled female-only, pink-striped subway cars in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Monday on the first day of a scheme to avert groping and other unwanted sexual advances.

A law passed by the state legislature and signed by Rio Gov. Rosinha Matheus last month obliged the underground Metro and above-ground railways to have separate passenger cars for women during the weekday rush hours.

"It's the first day today and we had women applauding when men, who had entered their carriage without knowing about the rule, got off," a spokeswoman for the private Metro Rio company said.

Frequent complaints from women commuters about sexual harassment in crowded railway cars had prompted state legislators to pass the bill.

One car in every of Metro Rio's 33 trains is marked with pink stripes on doors and windows. The company said female passengers would themselves control men's entry into the cars, seeking the help of security guards if necessary.

Railroad company Supervia, which serves Rio and its suburbs, identifies its female-only cars with signs similar to those on women's restrooms.

Men won't be barred from the female-only cars during an initial phase but after that railroad police would enforce the new rule, a Supervia spokesman said.

Rio joins Tokyo and Mexico City as major cities that provide female-only train cars.