Pink Tax, Informative Article, by Anushka Bhatt

 Anushka Bhatt

July 21th, 2024

Pink Tax

Pink tax. You may have heard of it , or you may have, not. Either way, it’s an active issue all across the United States, and needs to have solutions immediately. You may be asking what the pink tax is. Well, the pink tax isn’t an actual tax, it’s almost figurative, but the situation isn't. The pink tax is a markup price on goods marketed towards women, for which men pay less for many similar products. In other words, it’s gender-based pricing. Many people think that women should be priced equally as men are, they also think that the pink tax is a significant issue because of two main reasons which include one being that it’s not acknowledged or seen as a real issue and the other being how the products that are being priced higher are almost if not literally the same items as men... Well, on the other hand, many people also think that the pink tax isn’t real and everything is priced the same for both genders. So now, let’s go over all these principles with a little bit of justification, and show why this “tax” isn’t a fraudulent or a phony claim made by activists.

My first reason why the pink tax is a significant issue among women across the world is that people don't acknowledge or see it as a real problem in the first place.  According to Investopedia, “pink tax has been an issue researchers have been analyzing since 1990.” (Fontinelle) This proves that the pink tax isn’t something that sprung up out of nowhere, awareness started in 1990 the article stated, but the pink tax has been an issue for way longer. Not to mention, that this is everywhere you could go to your local drugstore and look at anything targeted towards women is way more expensive. When the pink tax is seen as an issue or has been brought to light by the voices of protesters or other people who take the stand of con - the pink tax, the pink tax becomes illegal. This shows how serious and large of an issue this is in the first place, that states have to ban and make it against the law to give women an additional price. We know this because bankrate.com states that, “In October 2020, New York began enforcing a ban on pink tax by making it illegal..” (Hoffman) This quote shows that New York saw and noticed that charging more for products that are “substitutionally similar” to different genders.  When this quote says “illegal” that means they’re forbidden by the law. violence is prohibited by the law, crime is banned by the law, and the pink tax falling under the category with these other things shows how relevant  of an issue the pink tax is and how appalling it is for many women worldwidehy is why pink tax isn’t seen as an issue, and when it is people understand how infuriating and vital it is.

In addition to that, the pink tax is also a rising issue because most products women are getting almost scammed for, the same products, practically the same models men are paying for. Imagine you’re entering your local drugstore, you see the “masculine” products come in black or navy blue packaging with boutique brand names like Bull Dog, Vikings Blade, and Rugged and Dapper. Meanwhile, “female” products are completely different, they’re an explosion of pink and light purple, with a bomb of glitter. (Wakeman) Two of the most obvious differences are the scent and color of course. However, other than that they’re the same thing; women shouldn’t be priced an extra 1.40$ if their body wash has a pink color to it and a floral scent. Not to mention body wash serves the same purpose for everyone, regardless of anything less. It’s to wash yourself, so why are products for women so much higher in the price? We know that they’re higher in price as well because according to healthine.org, “women faced an average price difference of 13 percent for personal care products among the 122 products compared in the study” (Wakeman). Scientists have done a whole study which means they observed, experimented etc. just to come to this conclusion. Not to mention 13% could be a lot for many even though it may not seem like a lot at first glance.

However, many people also say that women’s products are more expensive than men’s for multiple valid reasons and also say the pink tax isn’t even a real issue, and women are priced more for the same products as men because they take a lot more time, effort and money to make. Monoprix claimed that “men’s razors are cheaper because they sell faster, and because they’re less costly to make (Board).¨ Although this may be true, this shouldn’t make products marketed toward women any more expensive than they are to men. At the end of the day, most products are the same thing, serve the same function and there's nothing noticeably different about products other than one being painted pink. This claim also couldn’t be true, because many men’s products are also promoted the same way women's products are. It’s guaranteed that you have seen a commercial on social media or TV advertising or promoting products for men that women also use on a daily basis.  So, if men’s products are advertised the same as women and both products have the same function or use, and are made the same then why are women's products priced more? There’s no valid reason, it’s just plain discrimination.

To conclude, the Pink tax is a major issue that can no longer be ignored and isn’t just a hoax by feminists. It is essentially the same thing being sold but for higher prices just because it is a woman buying them. This is extremely unfair and pushes back years of progress made in the tin treatment of women. Not only this, people choose to ignore this pressing issue, which seriously affects women in how they see themselves in this society. Overall, the Pink Tax deliberately ignores the progress made on women's rights and it’s time to finally remove the Pink tax out of the picture. 

Works Cited

Board, The Editorial. “Opinion | The Pink Tax (Published 2014).” The New York Times, 12 Nov. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/opinion/the-pink-tax.html.

Fontinelle,Amy.“Pink Tax.” Investopedia, 27 May 2021, www.investopedia.com/pink-tax-5095458.

Hoffman, Meredith. “The Pink Tax: How Women Pay More for Pink.” Bankrate, 11 Jan. 2021, www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/pink-tax-how-women-pay-more/.

Office, U. S. Government Accountability. “Is There a Pink Tax?” Www.gao.gov, 8AD, www.gao.gov/blog/2018/09/20/is-there-a-pink-tax.

Proquest.com, 2023, explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer/document/2256812545?accountid=64167. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.

Wakeman, Jessica. “Pink Tax: The Real Cost of Gender-Based Pricing.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 2 Aug. 2018, www.healthline.com/health/the-real-cost-of-pink-tax.