Have you ever noticed that women’s products are much more expensive than men's? One example is the cost of deodorant. Women’s deodorant costs 2-3 dollars more than men’s. (There are photos of examples at the bottom of the form post) This cost increase isn’t always in health products. The more “feminine” items cost more. Why is that? The simple answer is “Pink Tax”. Pink Tax isn’t a real tax. It is an increase in the price of women's products. Most people don’t even realize that Pink Tax is everywhere. It’s not always the store's fault, it’s the companies making the products. They know they can charge more for a “pretty color”, and women still buy it.
Pink tax started around the 1990s. It got lots of attention because people started noticing that women’s products were more expensive than men’s. A report in California from the ‘90s stated that washing companies were charging women more than 50% more to wash their clothes than men. Lots of people thought that the price difference was not fair
In 2016, there was a bill brought up to help with the Pink Tax. It was called the “Pink Tax Repeal Act”. It was supposed to outlaw Pink Tax. Either in stores or in services. Unfortunately, the bill did not go through Congress. It did help spread more awareness of the reason why their products cost extra. I think it would have been great if that bill passed. It would stop gender discrimination for products. Now we have to continue with unfair prices on products.
Why is Pink Tax a thing? Some people think that companies use higher quality products for women's products and that's why it costs differently. Sometimes that is the case. Most of the time, the products are equally the same, except for the color. There is also supply and demand. That may be the reason for the cost increase. When there is a low supply and a high demand for something, the cost will increase significantly. The real reason is companies will make more money if the overcharge their products that are for women.
How does this relate to history? Women have been treated unequally since the beginning of time. Women weren’t allowed to vote until the 1920s. They weren’t even allowed to join our military until the 1940s. Times have changed and women have come a very long way. There are still many unfortunate things that are still unequal for women. In the workplace, men make almost 20% more money. That doesn’t make sense as to why women are getting charged more.
Overall, I feel like Pink Tax should be more talked about. It's not very fair that women have to pay extra for items to be a certain color. I hope that someday in the future there will be something done again about Pink Tax that will work.
Sources
https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/personal-finance/2023/03/13/640f465446163f79558b45af.html
https://thevarsity.ca/2022/01/09/history-and-future-of-pink-tax/
Questions:
Do you think Pink Tax is unfair?
What is your opinion about Pink Tax?
Did you know about Pink Tax before reading this?
Replies
Love this topic and super job!!
I think the Pink Tax is unfair because it lets companies take advantage of women. Women need to buy some of the exact same products as men, but because women's products are designed to be more visually appealing, companies use that to charge more. I think this reasoning is unfair and sexist. There should be no reason this only applies to women's products. I knew about the Pink Tax before reading this, but I was unsure of all of the details.
I think the Pink Tax is unfair becuase if men and women are buying the same quality product, they should be in a close price range, if not the same. I had never really paid attention to this, but now that I think about it, the Pink Tax is everywhere. I think companies should get rid of the Pink Tax becasue it's unjust, and shows the inequality of men and women. I think it needs to be brought to more people's attention so it can change.
I believe that the pink tax is unfair because why would the same product just different style have such a different cost. I've noticed this before. For example, men's razors are much cheaper but are the same if not better than women's razors. I think this is just sexist and we need to keep informing people about this problem.
I think pink tax is unfair and sexist beacuse why should women have to pay more for a "pretty color". I dont think they sould have it and I did not know about pink tax before this.
I think pink tax is unfair becasue they shouldn't be able to have it because it is only women's products in the store. My opinion is that they shouldn't have it and that it should all be the same no matter whose products they are. I did not know about pink tax before reading this.
I didn't know about this before but I did see the differences in several items, but I never knew why that happened, I always thought it was beacuse maybe that product had more materials/chemicals and that made it more expensive.
I think that the pink tax is completely unfair and sexist agasint women and should not have been a thing to begin with. I was aware of pink tax before reading this but I didnt know the details about it.
I had heard of pink tax before reading this and think it is unfair. From a buisness perpective it makes sense that companies charge more for feminine looking products becuase women are willing to pay more. This is not right becuase social expectations should not make it more expensive to be a women.
I think the pink tax is unfair and I don't think companies should be able to have a pink tax just because it's women's products. I didn't know about the pink tax before reading this paper but now that I know about it I don't think it is right and they should change it.
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