Is it lawful to charge two prices based on customers&#39; sex?
<p>Suppose a gym advertises fees for female customers as 7000/- LKR, but 12,000/-LKR for male customers.</p>
<p>Is it okay to make advertisements like that under Sri Lankan law or is it sex discrimination?</p>
<p>If it is okay, then what laws apply?</p>

<p>As of 2017, Sri Lanka was a party to a treaty related to discrimination based upon sex, and the UN body charged to monitoring compliance with the treaty was in discussions with the Sri Lankan government regarding multiple issues related to this treaty, although apparently not the one identified in the question (at least, not obviously, although since the treaty is designed to prevent discrimination against women, in particular, it may not regulated isolated instances of discrimination in favor of women).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sri Lanka’s record on women’s rights will be examined by the UN
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
on 22 February. Sri Lanka has ratified the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and so is
reviewed regularly by the Committee on how it is implementing the
Convention.</p>
<p>Among the possible issues for discussion between CEDAW and a
delegation from the Sri Lankan Government are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Amendments to discriminatory laws and policies;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Women participation in decision making processes, including law reform;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Elimination of stereotypical attitudes towards women and girls; Improving women’s access to justice;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Measures taken to prohibit torture, rape, sexual and gender-based violence by public authorities and private individuals;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Providing support for marginalized women, such as heads of households, older women, war widows, ex-combatants, women with
disabilities and internally displaced women;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Recognizing marital rape as a criminal offence;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Removing punitive provisions imposed on women who undergo abortion.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Greater depth of analysis on these issues is found <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21217&amp;LangID=E" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ilo.org/colombo/areasofwork/equality-and-discrimination/lang--en/index.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">International Labor Organization has been concerned about</a> unemployment among women, discrimination against women in the &quot;informal sector&quot;, and sexual harassment (to which non-legal <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-colombo/documents/publication/wcms_525537.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">codes of conduct</a> have been adopted by companies that want to be seen as progressive).</p>
<p>More recently, activism in Sri Lanka has been focused on LGBT+ rights in addition to the points identified above (see, e.g., <a href="https://ilga.org/downloads/stakeholders_report_SriLanka_UPR28.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>). A <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/sri-lanka/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">U.S. Department of State report
for the year 2020</a> also noted that in Sri Lanka:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The constitution prohibits discrimination, including with respect to
employment and occupation, on the basis of race, religion, language,
caste, sex, political opinion, or place of birth. The law does not
prohibit employment or occupational discrimination on the basis of
color, sexual orientation or gender identity, age, HIV-positive
status, or status with regard to other communicable diseases.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As 2021 <a href="https://wbl.worldbank.org/content/dam/documents/wbl/2021/snapshots/Sri-lanka.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">summary of women's rights in Sri Lanka</a> entitled &quot;Women, Business, and The Law&quot; noted that there was no law in Sri Lanka which prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in the extension of credit (although women also <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/172710/sri-lanka-country-gender-assessment-update.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">aren't prohibited from taking out loans</a> or engaging in financial and economic activity).</p>
<p>I didn't find any sources that specifically resolved the issue of whether gender discrimination in pricing by private firms was prohibited by law, but it is fair to say that addressing that issue is <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/172710/sri-lanka-country-gender-assessment-update.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">not even on the agenda</a> of people concerned about these issues in Sri Lanka, and I found no positive evidence that this was legally prohibited.</p>

discrimination sri-lanka