The Pink Tax: The Unfair Taxing on Feminine Products
By Olivia Renaud
Introduction
Sweet fragrances, bright colors, and soft, fruity names often come to mind when you think of feminine products. Both scents and colors are used as distinguishers between products meant for women, and products meant for men. However, this is not the only difference. The more serious, and often subtler difference is the price. Products aimed at young girls and women are priced significantly higher than those aimed at young boys and men. This is known as the ‘ Pink Tax.’
What Is The Pink Tax And How Does It Affect Women?
The ‘Pink Tax’ is not an actual tax, as its name suggests, but rather a “system of discriminatory pricing on products and services, that is based on gender.” Unfortunately, the Pink Tax is not always easy to identify. Most of the time, you can’t tell if you are paying more for products like clothing, whereas it’s easier to tell if your shaving cream or deodorant costs more than its male counterpart. “The average cost of a woman’s pair of jeans at one popular retailer is $62.75 while comparable men’s jeans at the same store cost $57.09 — a ten percent increase rate for women.” A New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Report compared the prices of the same product that were marketed towards women, compared to men. Shampoo prices for men were about $5.68 plus tax, while the feminine version costs $8.39. That’s an additional $2.71. Other than the packaging colors, which were pink and blue, these products looked exactly the same. These upcharges may seem small, and even insignificant, but studies show that the tax costs the average woman over $1,300 a year.
How The Pink Tax Effects Services
The Pink Tax’s effect is not limited to the pricing of products. This unfair discriminate also influences the cost of services like dry cleaning or auto repairs. An experiment done by CBS News showcased this fact by having two of their staff members, one male and one female, go to multiple dry cleaners with the same product — a white, buttoned down shirt. The results of the experiment were appalling. More than half the time, the woman was charged twice as much as the man, and sometimes even three times as much. This also happens to be the case when it comes to auto repairs. A study showed that well-informed men and women, as well as slightly un-informed men were charged the same amount for an auto repair. Un-informed women however, were charged significantly more, at an average of an additional $23. This still occurs today, in spite of many legislative attempts to prevent it from occurring. For example, in 1995, former assemblywoman Jackie Speier “passed a bill that forbade gender pricing of services like haircuts.” Now a congresswoman, Speier has reintroduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act, which if passed, would allow state attorney generals to “ go directly after businesses that charge men and women different prices.”
The Pink Tax’s Effect On Pads And Tampons
The Pink Tax has a subcategory known as The Tampon Tax. This tax refers to “ the sales tax applied to feminine hygiene items such as pads, liners, tampons and cups.” The sales tax on these items vary based on state tax codes, but are still applied in over 30 states. Weiss-Wolf, author of Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity, states that the tampon tax is actually just an ordinary sales tax that is applied to all goods. But since only people who have menstrual cycles use feminine hygiene products, the tax only affects us. Because of recent outrage on the taxing on feminine hygiene products, bills have been introduced to exempt pads and tampons from sales tax. These products are tax fee in the following states:
Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
New York
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Even though bills have been introduced in all nine of these states, only Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and New York have been successful in keeping these sanitary products tax free so far. The reason for this being that “most of our legislators don’t menstruate, so they weren’t really thinking about it in a constructive way” Weiss-Wolf states. This tax hits harder for less fortunate people like homeless women, and women in prison or public schools. In response to this, New York officially banned the Pink Tax in April of 2021. A report showed that “300,000 schoolgirls ages 11-18, and 23,000 women and girls living in shelters in NYC” were greatly impacted by the groundbreaking bill.
How To Stop The Pink Tax
There is no easy way to avoid the Pink Tax, but shopping for gender-neutral products, or products geared toward men may help you to save money, and avoid overpriced femine products like shampoo. If participating in the current battle is more your style, then speak up! Shaving cream, razors, denderan, shampoo, or even children’s toys should not cost more because they are targeted towards women or young girls is discrimination. The only way to truly end the Pink Tax is to call out businesses and brands that participate in this system of discriminatory gender-based pricing. And if you're feeling bold, contact your local representative, and speak out against the Pink Tax.