Since coming to college I have been purchasing men’s personal care products such as shaving cream and razors. I do this because…they cost significantly less! The price has everything to with gender-based pricing. Gender-based pricing is the setting of prices based on what gender the products are marketed toward. It’s another way to discriminate against women and it needs to stop. Listed below are several examples of gender-based pricing that affect women in everyday life.
- The Pink Tax
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The pink tax places an up-charge on all hygiene products labeled as “feminine” or that are pink. So, every time an item appears on the market that seems to be advertised to women, it costs a significantly larger amount than the male equivalent. The New York City Department of affairs did a study to record how much of a price difference there was between male and female personal care items. On average, women’s shampoo cost 48% more than male shampoo and razors cost 11% more. It doesn’t stop at personal hygiene though, in some cases, women even have to pay more for car insurance. According to an interview in Forbes Magazine, women with an identical driving record to a man could have to pay more for their car insurance.
- The Luxury tax
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The luxury tax is a tax placed on items that are deemed “unessential” and that only can be accessed by the wealthy. Examples of items that have the luxury tax are jewelry, perfume, or expensive cars. The most interesting items that are placed under this “unessential” category are pads and tampons. This tax makes pads and tampons inaccessible to people with low incomes. It is estimated that about 500 million women around the world are left without access to sanitary items while menstruating.
- The pay gap
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Lastly, women still don’t get paid as much as their male counterparts. In a study done by Pew Research Center women made 84% of what men were paid in the year 2020. This has been an issue for quite some time now and it is disappointing that it still hasn’t been resolved. For example, the pay gap between male and female athletes is large. According to NBC Sports, this specific pay gap could be years away from any solution and is likely due to the under advertisement of women’s sports.
Overall, gender-based pricing and the pay gap affect all women in numerous ways. It’s hard to afford essential items when you aren’t being paid the same as your male counterparts. As a country, we should do better to advocate for women and fix this problem that has occurred for too long.