Yes, The Pink Tax Is Real and Yes, It’s Annoying
By: Katevious Love
Tags: Money, Taxes, Women, Pink Tax, Equality

Pink Tax

Yes, The Pink Tax Is Real and Yes, It’s Annoying

Gender-Based Price Discrimination All in the Color of Pink

Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

Times are changing fast and we are all looking to a future where women can play an improved role all around the world. For years, we have fought, clawed, and clamored for our seat at the table. We’re still waiting for that miracle where everyone realizes that women are strong, capable, and more importantly, equal. It might be slow going, but changes are happening little by little. Of course, now that we all realize just how discriminatory being and identifying as a female can be sometimes, we have also uncovered how many laws make it possible. One in particular is known as the pink tax. If it sounds like a joke, it should be. Read on to learn about this ridiculous injustice.

What Is the Pink Tax?

The Pink Tax comes in many different forms, and all of them are annoying. As a general rule, the fact is that products that are catered to women almost always cost more than products that are catered to men. This is in part because a lot of imported female products get taxed higher than men’s products, but it also just applies to price in general. Products that are distinctly made for women are frequently greater in price than the same products made by the same company that is aimed at men. You are probably paying more for your deodorant, shampoo, razors, and t-shirts than men are. Worse, you’re paying an extra tax on feminine care products, as if periods are somehow optional.

“There are no federal laws that prohibit companies from charging different prices based on gender”

Photo by Honey Fangs on Unsplash

How Do Companies Get Away With It?

In reality, companies can get away with charging women more simply because they get to decide their product pricing. The same brand making the same product in a different color is legally allowed to charge more for whichever product they choose. There are no federal laws that prohibit companies from charging different prices based on gender, so they generally do what they want. A lot of the time, these “girly” products are cheaply made and come at an unnecessarily high price. Until someone notices and calls them on it, they tend to keep on making money off of females for simply buying products that are supposedly made for girls specifically because they come in so-called feminine colors.

“By the age of 30, women will have spent more than $40,000 more than men and more than $82,000 by age 60.”

What’s The Deal with Shopping for Basics?

The fashion industry is notoriously known for using the pink tax to clear out women’s wallets. Even though making women’s clothes is generally comparable to or even less than the cost of making men’s clothes, women still tend to pay more. We’re not even just talking a few cents, either. A lot of the time it is actual dollars’ worth of difference being that on average, women’s clothing is 8% more expensive than men’s. Avoid paying pink tax by purchasing gender-neutral items, look for companies that advertise they are pink tax-free and try shopping for basics in the men’s department.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Dollars & Cents

This may be a bit overwhelming. Your whole life you may have just assumed we all paid the same price. Let this be your feminine financial wake-up call. Women spend 13% more for their personal care than men. By the age of 30, women will have spent more than $40,000 more than men and more than $82,000 by age 60. With women only currently being paid 80.5 cents for every dollar a man makes for the same job, the combination of the pink tax only widens the gender wealth gap, and for women of color the gap is even wider still.

Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

At the end of the day, the fact is that women should not be earning less income yet forced into spending more money than men. It’s a ridiculous way to run a business and a country. Do you know what’s funny? So many women are switching to men’s products to dodge the tax. Really, who wouldn’t take the blue razor for a couple of dollars cheaper? The point remains that we shouldn’t have to. I’m not a super political person so I applaud those taking major stands and creating the movements behinds the hashtags:

#axthepinktax #pinktax #genderpricing

The attention they have placed on the economic disadvantages women are facing is appreciated. Hopefully one day soon we shall be free of the pink tax.