You are covering a meeting tonight of the Freeport City Council, in which Councilwoman Marcia Gold is introducing a bill. She says:

Freeport dry cleaners and beauty parlor operators are practicing gender discrimination. They are charging more for their services for women than men have to pay for similar services.

A woman's shirt or suit costs more to clean than a man's. A woman's haircut is always more expensive than a man's. The charges should be based on labor, not gender. This bill makes it illegal to charge more for equal service. It is based on California legislation. There, the legislature found women were paying almost two dollars more to have a shirt laundered than men paid for their shirts. The legislature acted.

We estimate that the average Freeport woman is paying $1,200 more a year than the average man for the same services.

Gold says her bill was the result of reading a study prepared by her staff. The study is entitled "Gypped by Gender."

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