Rachel Jane Allen
rallen19@uwyo.edu
If you haven’t heard of this phenomenon, the Pink Tax is the price difference between men’s and women’s products. Particularly, it refers to the extra money that women pay for the same brands of the same products. As depicted in the graph, women pay more than men do for products like shaving cream, razors, lotion and deodorant. You can easily see that women pay a significant amount more for the exact same item.
Is there a reason for this gap in cost? Literally the only difference between products is the packaging, the name and who the target consumers are. The Degree deodorant for men comes in a black container and says “MEN” on it, while the “women’s product” is in a blue container. That’s the only difference- scents like flowering moonblossom and INTENSE RAGE SAUSAGEFEST aside (whatever those are supposed to even smell like). The graph shows that the price difference is an astonishing $3.40. That’s a load of crap.
I won’t say that there’s no reason for separate products for men and women. Not only do the men’s products cater to the rougher sex’s fragile masculinity, but also at this point, creating a single generic product for all genders in impractical and completely implausible after centuries of ingrained segregation. And yes, I’m aware that men and women differ biologically, but the difference is so incremental. It doesn’t justify a tax of three and a half whole dollars. I’m not asking these companies to stop making gendered products. Even though some products really don’t need to be gendered. Seriously, though, “man-size tissues?” But for the love of corporate design teams, charge the same dang price for the same dang product. Women have it hard enough without having to pay extra.
Speaking of hardship, I want to talk about tampons. Yes, I said it- tampons. It is ridiculous that women not only have to pay the Pink Tax, they also have to buy a lifetime supply of feminine products for “that time of the month,” which, as the name suggests, happens EVERY month. What is ridiculous is that this isn’t provided automatically to people who are born female, while, at the same time, condoms are provided free at multiple facilities (primarily colleges). It makes sense that these facilities are attempting to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs, but as a friend once said, “it’s a lot easier to refrain from sex than it is to refrain from menstruation.”
