What Is the Pink Tax?

Men and women often buy similar everyday items. However, studies have shown that consumer products that are advertised for women sometimes cost more than comparable products for men. This gap is called the so-called pink tax.

Gender price differences are widespread in several sectors, but one of the most prominent is personal care products. For example, these include soaps, lotions, razor blades and deodorants sold specifically for women or men.

And while women tend to live longer than men, they often face financial hurdles, such as less investment for retirement and higher costs for certain products, known as the ‘pink tax.”

What is the “pink tax?”

Researchers of gender inequality point to what is known as the ‘pink tax’ – a markup on goods and services often sold to women. This markup is that men pay less for similar goods and services. This issue received a lot of attention a few years ago when the New York City Consumer Department surveyed 794 products sold downtown to consumers of all ages and found many examples of gender-specific pricing. However, researchers have been noticing and analyzing this phenomenon since at least the 1990s.

How would a pink tax work?

“Pink tax” refers to an additional amount charged on certain goods or services sold specifically to female consumers. Ordinary goods, such as razors and deodorants, are available to both men and women, but goods designed for women cost more. The pink tax makes women pay more for similar and often identical products and services used by men.

When a company makes or sells a product, it may set the price a little higher because it is intended for women. In most cases, there is very little difference between these products and those that can be compared for men. It could just be the color or the design of the packaging. Pink taxes make it more expensive for women to buy what they need for everyday life. For example, according to investment bank JPMORGAN Chase, many estimates show that the pink tax will cost women an average of $1,300 a year.

Pink tax price range.

The pink tax doesn’t just affect adult women. A study by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs found that young girls cannot escape the pink tax trap because “girl toys” cost on average 2-13% more than the same “boy toys,” in addition to their color.

This speaks to one of the fundamental problems of the pink tax. Identification is not always easy.

Sure, you may have noticed that razors and shaving creams are more expensive than men’s products, but what about shirts? Pants? How do I know if I’m paying more for a product that has no point of comparison? Vendors, brands, product quality, etc. are varied, making it difficult to determine a fair price without gender bias.

Products of similar quality from the same manufacturer are considered the most accurate product comparisons. In these comparisons, gender bias is widespread in many leading clothing stores. For example, the average price of women’s jeans at one prominent retailer was $62.75, while the average price of men’s jeans at the same store was $57.09, 10% more for women.

How does the pink tax affect women of color?

The pink tax is rampant and affects all women, but the disadvantage is felt much more strongly by women of color.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020, women in full-time jobs earned only 82% of what men earn. In other words, women earned $0.82 for every dollar earned by men. The gender pay gap was more severe for women of color, who earned much less money than white men.

According to the data, black women earned $0.64 for every dollar earned by white men, while Hispanic women earned $0.57 for every dollar earned by white men. An analysis of data from the Center for American Progress found that multicultural Asian women earned more, with white men earning 0.98 cents on the dollar and Asian women earning $1.01 on the dollar.

Earning less affects purchasing power, and because of pink taxes, women of color suffer much more. The epidemic also had a huge impact on women, especially women of color working low-wage jobs. Some women could not afford the luxury of working from home and had to deal with parental problems, forcing some women to quit their jobs entirely.

Is the pink tax legal?

Pink taxes are technically legal in most states. New York State is the only state that has banned pink taxes. In April 2020, former Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a proposal to ban the pink tax into law on September 30, 2020. This bill requires certain providers to provide price tags for standard services and states that price discrimination based on gender is prohibited by state law. If companies violate the law, they will face civil penalties.

The pink tax is still legal and exists in some states, but the law to repeal the pink tax is an attempt to ban it. H by MPs in April 2019.R. Introduced as 2048. Jackie Speer and the Pink Tax Abolition Act, passed back in June 2021, would make it illegal for companies to charge higher prices for their goods and services based on gender.

The pink tax on services.

Women don’t face additional costs just for groceries. Many services, such as dry cleaning and car maintenance, can cost more if you are a woman.

CBS News conducted an experiment in which male and female employees went to several laundromats in New York City wearing the same white cotton button-down shirt. The experiment said, “More than half of the laundromats charged female employees at least twice as much to wash their shirts. Some even charged her three times as much.”

According to research, pricing for car repairs also has its own version of a pink tax.

Sort of like a pink tax.

Pink taxes have permeated the market in virtually every category. In addition to the JEC report, there is also an in-depth study of pink taxes by the New York Department of Consumer Affairs. The cost of becoming a female consumer.

Sometimes men’s and women’s items have a distinct difference in price. In other cases, however, the price of an item is the same, but it is harder to find when the quantity is different. In such cases, men buy more goods for the same price.