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Highlights
- The pink tax is a term used to describe the difference in prices charged for the same products for which men are charged a lesser price than females.
- Higher women participation in the manufacturing and public sectors is needed to give much heed to women’s needs.
- To fight the injustice of price differentiation based on gender, women should instead use gender-neutral products.
How much more do women pay for the same products than men? Unfortunately, gender-based pricing is a context that has long been ignored, and all multinational companies have been taking advantage of that.
What is gender-based pricing?
Gender-based pricing is the concept where different prices are charged for the same products based on gender. Making gender a base for pricing is a prejudiced idea, standing against the rights of women. The right to equal prices and purchasing products for prices driven by market forces and not by gender is a fundamental right that people of all genders should be enjoying.
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A close look at pink tax
The pink tax is a term used to describe the difference in prices charged for the same products for which men are charged a lesser price than females. It’s an invisible cost that women pay.
Products manufactured explicitly for women and marketed in such a way that they are shown to be luxurious. For example, women’s body razors should ideally be priced the same as men’s razors; however, they are highly priced, coloured in pink with fancy packaging.
All these extravaganza features, which are not even needed for basic things, make women products look luxurious; however, they are used for primary day to day needs. According to an international study by the New York Department of Consumer Affairs subjected ‘Cradle to Cane: The Cost of Being A Female Consumer, the products for women cost 7 per cent more than average, and in personal care items, the difference rises to 13 per cent.
Unfortunately, Pink Tax is not limited to adult women; girls’ toys are charged higher rates than boys’ toys. According to a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs study, girls’ toys are priced about 2 per cent to 13 per cent more than boys’ toys on average. Thus, not even young girls can escape the vicious circle of higher prices.
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The rationale of pink tax
Speaking of personal care items, female products are about 13 per cent more expensive than male personal care items. The primary reason for this difference is the assumption built-in a society that women are not wise purchasers, and they are gullible. But are they?
Most women’s personal care products are sold at higher prices. Therefore, women are not left with many options for cheaper personal care products.
Another reason is patriarchy; women are highly subjected to stereotypical body standards. For example, beauty has always been a high standard for judging women, and thus there is a lot of pressure on women to take care of their physical selves.
Capitalist producers take advantage of that to sell personal care products to women for higher prices. A similar aspect applies to women's salons. Everyone would have noticed that men salons have lower rates, while women salons charge very high rates for essential services.
Image source: © Ronstik | Megapixl.com
Analysing the impact of pink tax
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), mostly women are paid less for more work. Additionally, more women are employed in unorganised sectors with no job security, lesser pay, and almost no extra benefits.
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Thus, women’s financial independence and freedom are already restricted in society, and above all, products are charged at higher rates. This results in lesser financial freedom for women in general.
Thus, higher women participation in the manufacturing and public sectors is needed to give much heed to women’s needs. The pink tax is a sheer price imbalance based upon gender, which is highly discriminatory. Just by putting extra perfume and giving products a fluorescent look and charging more for that takes away the right to fair prices from women.
Bottom line
Thus, to fight the injustice of price differentiation based on gender, women should instead use gender-neutral products. Although this is not the final solution to the problem; however, for the time being, women can use gender-neutral products. This way, this can escape the evils of pink tax.
