An art exhibition intended for women only will soon have to allow male visitors after a man who was denied entry sued for discrimination.
The Ladies Lounge in Australia was designed to offer luxury food and drink service to women in “opulent” surroundings, including displays of artwork from the likes of Pablo Picasso.
It opened in 2020 at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania – 55 years on from a time when women were excluded from pubs in the country.
Jason Lau took the organisers to court after he was denied entry in April last year for being male – with a civil tribunal panel ruling in his favour on Tuesday.
“It is not apparent how restricting appreciation of the art within the space to women promotes opportunity for female artists to have their work displayed,” tribunal deputy president Richard Grueber said.
The museum now has 28 days to stop refusing entry to anyone who does not identify as a woman.
Mr Lau, who represented himself during a hearing on 19 March, paid the entry fee of $35 (£18) on 1 April last year.
He was denied entry on the same day.
Kirsha Kaechele, the artist and curator behind the exhibit, argued that the Ladies Lounge was a “response to the lived experience of women forbidden from entering certain spaces throughout history”, according to the court’s ruling.
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“She considered that the Ladies Lounge was necessary as a peaceful space that women can retreat to, as a refuge exclusively for women,” it added.
Women have seen “considerably fewer interiors”, she argued, and said they now deserve equal rights and special privileges to “equalise that injustice” for a “minimum of 300 years”.
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Throughout the hearing, supporters of the museum – including Ms Kaechele – wore similar outfits in a “conservative business style” and made occasional synchronised movements.
Mr Grueber said they did not disrupt or influence the hearing but added their behaviour was “at the very least… inappropriate, discourteous and disrespectful, and at worst contumelious and contemptuous”.
