Have you ever gone to the store and seen “women’s deodorant” that costs more than “men’s deodorant”? In fact, nearly everything that is considered a women’s product costs slightly more than men’s products. This is a phenomenon called “the pink tax”. The tax has been around for as long as anyone can remember, but recently women and social rights activists are labeling is as unfair and even a form of gender discrimination. According to USA Today, women pay about 7% more for products than men on average. Take clothing as an example: girls’ clothes cost 4% more than boys’ clothes and women’s clothes cost 8% more than men’s. The pink tax often goes hand-in-hand with the gender-based wage gap. Women are paid significantly less than men, despite sometimes having the same job. Essentially, women have to work more to make more money but we also have to pay more for essential products such as razors, deodorants, feminine products, etc. In this picture, the pricing for different products is compared based on gender. For the majority of products, women have to pay more. Even senior care costs are higher for women than for men. Why are women forced to pay more than men for the same products? There are many reasons why but the simplest answer is product discrimination. When products enter the US, they’re taxed at different levels based on whether they’re for men or women. In all fairness, some men’s products are taxed higher than women’s, but more often than not women’s products are taxed higher and ultimately cost more. Another component of pink tax is product differentiation. For example, it’s more expensive to paint a scooter pink than it is to paint the same scooter red, so the pink scooter is then priced higher. Women’s haircuts are more expensive than men’s because they require more labor-extensive care and take more time. Women worldwide are fighting to get rid of this discrimination and they’re starting by going after the tampon tax. Tampons are taxed similarly to toilet papers, meaning that just a sales tax is applied to it. Women are arguing that menstruation is completely out of our control and we shouldn’t be taxed for something that is essential to nearly half the population. Other countries have made some headway toward removing the tax. India and Kenya both scrapped their tampon tax while Australia, the UK, and Canada have worked on legislation for tax-exemptions on tampons but none have been concrete laws.
Sources:
https://howmuch.net/articles/pink-tax-which-products-are-more-expensive-for-women-than-men