“Do you think the so-called “pink tax” is fair?”
Recently, The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) compared nearly 800 products on the market. The study looked at the prices of products marketed towards women and those that were neutral or marketed towards men. They found that, on average, similar products cost 7% more for women.
1. How Are These Different?
While the DCA’s findings are maddening on their own, a simple search through your local Target will likely show you the same. Like these bike helmets, the shark helmet for boys retails for $14.99 at Target, while the unicorn helmet for girls goes for $27.99.
2. Gender Pricing
Take these two Radio Flyer scooters sold at Target. Why is the red one, the gender neutral or male version, sold for $24.99 when the pink one is being sold for $49.99?
3. You Must Pay More
Products that have similar, if not identical, ingredients are sold for higher prices when they’re marketed towards females. And while some prices are adjusted once this is brought to the store’s attention, others are not.
4. The Poop Tax?
I mean, how insane is it that it costs men less to soften their stool? Just because the box is pink, a woman has to pay more for it?
5. Everybody Needs to Shave
Men and women both need to shave. Maybe even more so for men, as they shave their face more regularly than say, a 30-year-old writer who can’t bring herself to shave her legs more than once a week. And yet, here we are.
6. REALLY?
Yes, even adult diapers. These two examples are currently on sale at Rite Aid. 52 male adult diapers are sold for $11.99, while 39 female ones are sold for the same price.
7. They Are Equal
At this point, you might be thinking, “But women’s products have better ingredients or their packaging costs more.” NOPE. Not the case. These products are more often than not made with the exact same active ingredients.
8. Not Saving Shaving
They are identical products with similar active ingredients, so why the tax? Companies feel like they can charge more because women are conditioned to buy them.
9. Nothing Stopping Them
While many states have laws prohibiting gender-based pricing, they only pertain to services and not retail products. Right now, there is not a single law in place that prohibits a merchant from selling the same exact product for different prices based on the gender of the person buying it.
10. On Top of the Wage Gap
If you combine the pink tax with the wage gap, women are losing more money than men throughout their entire lives. A study done in 1995estimated that women pay, on average, $1351 more for the same products than men. That’s over $100,000 lost in a lifetime.
11. Different Expectations
It can also go deeper than just toiletries. Women are hit especially hard in the clothing department. Hannah Sorensen, a financial associate with Thrivent Financial said, “A man could wear the same black suit several days in a row and no one would notice, a woman couldn’t.”
12. The Price of Being Female
And when gender-based marketing starts before we’re even born, it’s often engrained into us that women have to pay more for some reason. Unfortunately, for now, that’s just the price of being female.
13. The Reason?
Frankly, the reason products for women cost more is because women will buy it. However, now that this is being brought to the attention of major chains, hopefully they will do the right thing. The goal is that, with more legislation being passed, the pink tax will be a thing of the past.
14. Shop Male
For now, shopping male is the only real change you can make to your bank account. “Price conscious female shoppers may not know that, for discounts, they need look