Although it is easier to believe that the world has been fully expunged of its misogyny and has left the past behind, the truth is far from that. Every day, women face injustices normalized by society, and one of them is the pink tax. The pink tax is the practice of making women’s products more expensive than their male counterparts and charging more for nonessential products marketed specifically towards women, such as makeup and perfume. Especially with rising inflation, paying extreme amounts for basic items is unsustainable. In a modern era, we should not see such differences in pricing based on gender.
Although the problem has been around for much longer, official research on the pink tax dates back to 1994, when a California’s Assembly Office study revealed that 64% of stores in major cities, without providing a reason, charged more money to iron a woman’s blouse than a man’s button-up shirt. This brought attention to the issue and eventually led to the California Gender Tax Repeal of 1995, which aimed to regulate services (e.g., dry cleaning, haircuts, etc.) rather than products, mandating businesses to charge the same price regardless of the customer’s gender, as long as the cost, time, and skills necessary to provide such services were the same.
Later on, this act was expanded to include the pink tax. In 2022, Assembly Bill 1827 passed by the California Assembly, intended to prohibit unethical prices not only of services but also the price of goods, specifically women’s products that are in essence the same as men’s products. Examples of these include toys, accessories, personal hygiene products, and clothing. The California government does not take these issues lightly: Assembly Bill 1827 fines $10,000 for the first offense, and then another $1000 for each subsequent offense. This law became known as the “Pink Tax Law,” and was signed into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
Although often an overlooked issue, the impact of the pink tax is not to be underestimated. According to a 2020 study by the California Senate Committee on Judiciary and Senate Select Committee on Women, Work and Families, women pay an average of $2,381 more than men for the same goods and services each year, which can accumulate to about $188,000 in “pink tax” over a typical woman’s lifetime. This takes a significant toll on women, as demonstrated by the College of New Jersey’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences’ 2023 study, which found that period poverty, a term that refers to not being able to afford or access menstrual hygiene products, including pads, tampons, and menstrual cups, increased by 35% between 2018 and 2021.
The impact of unequal consumer prices is exacerbated by women’s personal financial situations that result from lower salaries compared to men for the same jobs. A 2022 study of the gender wage gap by the Economic Policy Institute reports that women earn approximately 20% less than men. In 2023, the average female salary within the United States was $55,240, according to the Social Security Administration. Males, on the other hand, earned approximately $66,790. With a pay gap costing women thousands of dollars each year, it is financially unsustainable to force women to spend their already-reduced salary on items that should cost less. As a whole, according to the National Organization for Women, the annual cost per individual for the pink tax is approximately $1,351. As of the 2023 United States Census Bureau, there are approximately 169.6 million women who reside in the United States. Multiplying these numbers together shows the severity of the economic side of the crisis: The pink tax costs an annual average of around $229 billion.
Women of color are even more harshly impacted, facing discriminatory practices against both their gender and race. With the recent removal of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices within the federal government and threats made by President Donald Trump to punish private companies that continue to practice it, pushing back against the pink tax is more critical than ever.
The causes of the pink tax are nuanced, as it is not always due to simple price discrimination. Sometimes, imported women’s products end up with higher prices than their male equivalents because the tariffs originally placed on those goods are “pink” themselves — products made for women are taxed higher. In other situations, brands spend extra money on advertisements for a women’s product in order to make it more appealing to that specific audience, which subsequently raises its price to ensure financial profit.
Civic Engagement Education Project President senior Namya Kasturi has encountered the subtle prevalence of gender-discriminatory injustices like the pink tax in daily life. “I’ve noticed that period products’ (prices) have gone up,” she said. “I think that there should be a cap on the price of menstrual products just because it’s a necessity. You don’t see toilet paper getting (this much) more expensive. You shouldn’t be going out of your way to get something that should be accessible.” According to Kasturi, the pink tax falls under the greater umbrella issue of misogyny that has been normalized and disregarded by society. “The world tends to overlook women’s pains and women’s experiences,” she said. “People just need to have basic empathy.”
As of now, the pink tax is banned only in California and New York. Some other states, including Texas and Washington, have taken steps toward what will likely be the same outcome by either eliminating taxes on period products or getting rid of the tampon tax, respectively. In terms of federal progress, the Pink Tax Repeal Act was introduced to Congress in 2016 and has been reintroduced multiple times since then, but it has not been passed. The bill would have prohibited product manufacturers or service providers from selling substantially similar products at different prices based on the gender of the intended purchaser. “Substantially similar” products are defined by the fact that they consist of the same materials, are made for the same intended purpose, and have the same functions and features. For example, differences in color do not qualify as a substantial reason to make a variation’s price different from its other version.
This pressing issue may seem like too much of a large-scale problem for everyday citizens to do anything, but that is actually not the case. Anyone can make little changes to their daily life by adjusting the way one shops, voting with their dollar. One of the best ways to push back is by buying gender-neutral versions of items like razors and soap, which are practically identical in content to the versions marketed toward women — the only difference is that they are cheaper. Choosing to buy a generic brand of a product is also a great strategy since they often cost less than name-brand products and tend to work just as well, if not better at times. Shopping in advance can be beneficial too, as it is an effective way to guarantee getting the best deal for even the most basic of items.
To protest the overarching theme of misogyny still prevalent in the world that spurs systemic issues like the pink tax, students specifically can take action by participating in some of Gunn’s feminist clubs, including Girl Up, Women in STEM, and Title IX, all of which promote women’s empowerment and equality in their own ways. Junior Violet Hayes is the co-president of the Title IX club, which advocates for sexual violence prevention in collaboration with the local community. Being a part of this club has helped Hayes feel more confident in the competitive, stressful, and sometimes unsafe-feeling environment of school. “Knowing my rights definitely helps me feel more safe around school, especially in an environment where people are constantly being compared to each other, both socially and with regards to academics,” Hayes said.
Hayes believes that when people come across any form of misogyny, it is important for them to call it out instead of turning a blind eye. “If women have to pay more for the same stuff, then that’s discriminatory,” Hayes said. “If you see the (Title IX) posters (around campus), know your rights. If you see something, say something.”
