This Brooklyn Bar Has A Great — And Important — Spin On Ladies’ Night

One Brooklyn bar is putting a contemporary spin on "Ladies' Night." Instead of giving free drinks to women, The Way Station in Prospect Heights is offering a very relevant discount: It is charging women 77% of their bar tabs today (7/7, get it?) as a playful way to highlight the wage gap (and, of course, celebrate everyone's love of cheap drinks). Estimates of how much less a woman earns than a man for doing the same job vary slightly (an IWPR study finds it's $.78 to the dollar), but the lag undoubtedly persists. Obama called out the gap in this year's State of the Union address, and his administration released a new set of stats on pay discrimination on Equal Pay Day (a day in April set aside to, as the name sounds, advocate for equal pay). "We agreed that, even as a small bar/music venue, we could help raise awareness and give back to our community at the same time," Andy Heidel, owner of The Way Station, told R29. He said he decided to put on the 7/7 event after a colleague mentioned the wage gap in the spring, when the White House released the depressing stats about women in the workplace. "We had no idea this would reopen the dialogue to this extent," he said. This isn't the bar's first evening dedicated to social commentary. On Friday nights, The Way Station has Teacher Appreciation Night, offering specials to local educators. On those nights, Heidel also puts out a "douche jar," where anyone acting accordingly must put in a dollar. That money goes to a fund for local teachers. Heidel has confirmed to Refinery29 that that very douche jar will be out for the 7/7 event. For the most part, Heidel said, his "patrons both male and female have been incredibly supportive." He adds that the community at large is also in favor of his lady-empowerment event. He does note that there are a "few unenlightened men who believe this is discriminatory, that I should be sued, or that Obama is lying." But for those naysayers, Heidel can simply point them in the direction of the douche jar.