I love being a woman. However, every female knows there’s a price to pay (literally) for having a vagina. Pink tax is something that has been affecting women for decades and isn’t spoken about enough.
For those who don’t know, bankrate.com defines what pink tax actually means,
“The pink tax isn’t an actual government tax; it refers to discriminatory pricing that inflates the cost of goods marketed to women. It can also apply to the practice of inflating costs for women seeking services.
The term “pink tax” was popularized around the mid-1990s, when the Gender Tax Repeal Act of 1995 passed in California, prohibiting price discrimination on services.
The pink tax inflates the price of goods found on retail shelves, and small price differences can add up to women paying more than men over time.”
If you go to your local Target and compare a men’s razor to a women’s pink razor, you’re going to be paying more for that pink razor, even if they are the same brand or the same amount of blades. The problem is so much bigger than just some razors, though. Pink tax affects everything from soap, lotion, shampoo, deodorant, laxatives, clothes, toys and toiletries. The list goes on and on.
I really want to highlight the inequality that women still face to this day, because many think the problem has gone away. This is far from the truth. Men and women buy the same day-to-day products, but women are always going to end up spending more.
This doesn’t make much sense, though, does it? I mean, especially because women are also earning less in the workplace.
“In 2022, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full and part-time workers.”
So, it’s clear the odds are stacked against us. It’s come to a point where we as women are exhausted. Why is this still happening to us? During International Women’s Month, I refuse to ignore these problems we deal with on a daily basis.
While sitting in my class, the topic of the pink tax came up. There were only three guys in the class, and not one of them realized that the pink tax was a real thing. I mean, why would they? It doesn’t affect them. We’ve become a selfish generation where no one cares until it affects them directly. This needs to change. Men should care that women are being treated unequally every day and have to spend more money on a daily basis.
So, where did we go from here? If I could, I’d snap my fingers, and the gender pay gap and pink tax would be gone in an instant. However, life is not that simple. Here is a big thing you can do to help fight against the pink tax:
Support companies that are actively trying to eliminate the pink tax with gender-neutral items. Brands like Billie, Boxed and European Wax Center are actively engaged in fighting the pink tax.
It’s not easy, but it is possible to fight against pink tax. We are strong and confident women, and we do not deserve to be treated this way.