Next time you happen to visit the grocery store, check out the aisle that stores personal care products for men and women. Chances are that you will find that women’s products cost more than men’s products – from deodorants to razors. And there aren’t many differences between the two products, besides their packaging. This phenomenon is called ‘Pink Tax’. However, it is not an actual tax that is imposed on these products by the government but it is the overall situation.
To explain it further, Pink Tax refers to the phenomenon where products marketed specifically to women are priced higher than similar products marketed to men, despite the absence of any significant differences in the ingredients or quality. This pricing disparity can be found across various categories such as personal care products, clothing, and services.
Why is this a problem?
The Pink Tax is a form of gender-based pricing discrimination, reinforcing stereotypes and perpetuating economic inequality between men and women. Advocates for gender equality have called for increased awareness and efforts to eliminate such pricing discrepancies.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited, a biopharmaceutical company, took to X to share a video explaining Pink Tax with examples and advocating against it. She called it a “shameful gender bias” and urged women to shun such products.
In the video, we clearly see the pricing discrepancies between men and women’s products, from lip balm to a plain cotton white t-shirt from H&M. Have a look at the video here:
Pink Tax! A shameful gender bias that women must respond to by shunning such products! pic.twitter.com/U3ZQm2s7W9
— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) March 12, 2024
This was a revelation for several people online who raised their voices against this sort of discrimination. Here’s what some of them said:
Not only that – the quality of products for women (think shirts) is often lower than that for women.
Plus there are ‘savings’ for manufacturers as many standard women’s clothes don’t have pockets, whereas men’s clothes always do – yes, even when the ‘man’ is a 10-month baby
— Devina Mehra (@devinamehra) March 13, 2024
Absolutely agree. Question is how should we get around it? It seems a hard choice between buying male products or not buying these products at all.
— Madhureeta Anand (@MadhureetaA) March 13, 2024
This is playing with the psychology of women, if the product has same content then why should a woman buy pink color product buy that blue one na! Not to forget cosmetic industry is made largely for women
A man hardly uses any cosmetic in daily life unlike women who uses dozens— Meena (@meenabg) March 13, 2024
Thank you madam @kiranshaw for bringing an awareness about this #pinktax ..but shunning such products is not a right way I think . We should make the manufacturers to keep the price tag equal for both the genders . consumer courts should take action on this ?!!
— 🦄Dr M Menaga Phd.,MBA /Green chemistry (@menaga_dr) March 13, 2024
What are your views regarding this issue?