Mayra Patel
Prof. Roger Powell
ENGL200
12 April 2019
I. Introduction
Gender discrimination through price and consumption.
The discrimination of prices by gender is popularized in the media like 'Pink Tax ',an
expression that refers to the overprice of certain products marketed to woman, same ingredients,
size, brand and function to those marketed to men (except in the color, that in occasions is pink).
But also, the media use the expression 'Tampon Tax ' to report the price women have to pay for
being a woman, referring to the price of feminine hygiene products (pads, tampons…)
While the development of sex-tailored product versions – gender discrimination– is an
accepted and consumer-friendly practice, overpricing on identical products is unacceptable to
consumer and difficult to justify for manufacturers.
The pink tax applies to a variety of products, including children’s clothing, toys, and personal
care products. The size of the markup varies, and in some cases the price for men’s products is
higher. For example, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (NYCDCA) examined
nearly 400 pairs of products for sale by New York City retailers and found that women’s
products were more than twice as likely to be priced higher than men’s products. The prices for
women’s and men’s products were roughly equal 40 percent of time. (Joint Economy
Committee)
