I'm surprised that this is allowed under fair housing laws.

Depending on the setup, it's probably not allowed, but I don't know who would make a fuss about it.

I spent 2 years at the Berkeley Street YWCA, a female-only housing residence in Boston's South End. It was allowed because it was technically a private club. I paid a $25 membership fee along with my deposit.

Men were allowed as guests on my floor, but not on any other floors outside visiting hours (Sundays 2-4), and never overnight.

For the 2 years I lived there, I had 2 meals a day (though I never made breakfast), a small room near the T, and a wide variety of housemates, from retirees to students to tourists. It was a bit pricey on 1 income, but it was very convenient for a student who also worked full time.

Alas, times change. The YWCA is now co-ed, and 2 floors are now dorm space for the technical college across the way.

after she completed graduate school and was working at Sotheby's. It was called The Markle Residence. I remember visiting her there about 8 years ago.... and as I recall it was very quaint. The rooms were small, but had their own bathrooms, the cafeteria was in the basement, and it just had a feel about it that was from another generation.

This is the only way my sister could afford to live in New York on her tiny salary. I can't remember what she paid for it, but 2 meals a day were included, and her bedsheets and towels were changed out weekly by the hotel staff.

Why wouldn't it be legal?

Hey there...

For fun (and affirmation that very little in this world ever really changes very much, if at all), read Muriel Sparks's 1963 novel "The Girls of Slender Means".

It's set in bombed-out, 1945 London...at "The May of Teck Club" (which "Exists for the Pecuniary Convenience & Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means below the age of Thirty years, who are obliged to reside apart from their Families in order to follow an Occupation").

Miss Clark-Flory will either love it or have an aneurism midway through the novel.

Bemusedly yours,

David Terry

www.davidterryart.com

(click on the "Teach your Granma How to Suck Eggs" icon to enter our "New Bottles for Old Wine" give-away)

I read a good one years ago after graduating college: "How to Live Rich When You're Not," by Rebecca something.

You can probably find it on Alibris.com, but I recall getting some good nuggets out of it.

Of course, 30 yrs later and sooo successful, I hardly need the tips (riiiiight...)... ;)

Why should men be required to live further out, live in poorer conditions, and pay more money than women for housing? Even in places with far more reasonable rent then downtown Manhattan many of those rents are outrageously low.

I think there are also similar situations for men, like at the YMCA. I don't live in NY, but I know of at least one in San Francisco that is men only. So unless you know for a fact there aren't similar residencies for men available in NY, don't cry discrimination.

I'm surprised it's legal too, but still think it's a great idea. There are reasons that women (more so than men) should have affordable housing closer to their jobs. 1) Women make less money than men. 2) It's safer for a woman not to have to travel far alone at night.

I'm a woman in publishing who has lived in the buroughs the entire time I've been in NYC. I'm lucky to have never felt truly unsafe, but know others who have. For me, the appeal to this housing is financial. When I was first starting out, I lived check to check, barely affording my subway fare. Men in my industry with same job title, were making $5000 to $10,000 more than me, and they still weren't making great money. Our salaries compared to our peers who went into business was laughable. Had I lived in one of these residences, my quality of life would probably have been greatly improved.

funwithtrees

So unless you know for a fact there aren't similar residencies for men available in NY, don't cry discrimination.

There are 2 residencies for men, 8 for women according to the CUNY referrals for student housing. Further the YMCA is attempting to leave the business of providing residences.

ohthatkate

1) Women make less money than men. 2) It's safer for a woman not to have to travel far alone at night.

1.) After adjusting for everything the wage gap usually ends up being somewhere between -10% to +10%. Nowhere close to the amount of money a young professional would be saving living in one of these residences. The wage gap would typically be removed in just one or two months of living downtown in a comparable location.

2.) A man is statistically more likely to be murdered, more likely to be robbed, more likely to be assaulted, and when a stranger is the one committing the crime men are vastly more likely to be victimized.

There are 2 residencies for men, 8 for women according to the CUNY referrals for student housing.

So quit yer bitchin' and make it 3. Or more, if you've a true entrepreneurial bent. The women who founded these residences didn't wait for them to be handed down by Jeebus.

I guess that the point here, as in many other "what about the men?" claims, is that (as we also often hear when it's women making the claim) differences in the situation of the genders aren't always the result of discrimination. Remember that BS post about how insurance companies were 'discriminating against women' -- but it later turned out that they were simply following economic constraints, which would have as a consequence that women cost more to insure? I.e. variables other than discrimination explained the observed differences.

The same thing here. If there are more women-only residences than male-only ones, this does not necessarily mean discrimination, since this is not the result of any law or social practice that discriminates against men. This may simply be the result of capitalism, in one way or another, or of something else. Discrimination needs more evidence than simply a gap, again because "correlation is not causation" (i.e. if something correlates with gender it doesn't follow that gender caused it).

And furthermore, as Dorothy Parker says above... if you don't like the stats, go and change it. Be active. Start a male-only residence.