Women are outraged over what’s being dubbed the “Pink Tax.” It would seem that over the course of our lifetime, the products we use are taxed more than products of equal value to men.
(Feminists want females to be upset by this. To be honest, as a young female, I’ve never given it a second thought and continue to buy the products that work for me.)
New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio (who likes to regulate the size of the soft drink you can order at McDonalds) even commissioned a study on gender pricing. His study found that women pay more for everything, including clothes, shampoo, razors, lotions, etc.
And then there’s that OUTRAGEOUS tax on tampons, which spawned the whole “Ax the Pink Tax” movement. There’s even a web site dedicated to it. And to show awareness, you should really get your brows done cause nothing says “smash the patriarchy” like pink brows!
According to the same site, women on average pay an extra $1, 351 just for being a woman. There’s a fun calculator that will tell you how much you’ve lost over your life time just by inputting your birthday. It seems that my total is now up to over $46,000.
Here’s something that struck me while researching this: for things like razors, shaving cream, or soap, no one is forcing us to buy the brands targeted at women. Sure, I like my Venus better than a generic store brand cheapo razor but lets be honest, they do the same thing. I could easily purchase a 20 pack of boring, blue plastic razors without the special moisturizing strip or the comfort grip that my Venus has but I CHOOSE the more expensive product because I like those small added features that the generic brand doesn’t have.
So in a way, with the exception of feminine hygiene products, most of the so-called “pink tax” is self inflicted. Consumers drive product pricing. If women are willing to pay more for Bath and Body Works body wash because it’s prettier and smells better than scentless Wal-Mart brand, that’s a choice. Same with shampoo, make-up or any other beauty product.
This lady gets it.
As far as clothing goes, women usually buy items with added details, not to mention the array of fits you can choose just for jeans. Extra stuff like embroidery or distressing is going to cost more because it adds more and took more time to make.
And just for for comparison’s sake, a pair of boot cut jeans are the exact same price at American Eagle in both women’s and men’s. Same with Silver Jeans, which is a higher end brand. So it’s not all companies and may not be as widespread as the movement would like you to believe.
There are a lot of problems in this world. Worrying over a 30 – 40 cent tax on tampons really shouldn’t be one of them. Say you buy four boxes a year, that’s UNDER $2 in taxes you are paying on them.
Here in America, we create a lot of “first world” problems for ourselves and the pink tax is just another example of that. If you’re really that concerned about the prices for shampoo, deodorant, or vitamins, don’t buy the products specifically geared toward women. The companies will get the message that consumers are unhappy with their pricing model when their sales go down.
