The Pink Tax
A deep dive into gender inequality
Design by Jordan Ingram
Jordan Ingram, Staff Writer
A couple of days ago, I needed to buy a box of tampons. At my local Publix, the average price of a 24-pack of regular tampons is $8.79 without sales tax. According to The Huffington Post, 70% of women go through at least 20 period products a week. According to the National Institutes of Health, 500 million women around the world can’t afford that $8 box.
Therein lies the problem. Society has disadvantaged women all over the world for years. Whether it be countless questions about our competence, harassment, employment rights, or maternal health, one of the biggest disadvantages women face today is economic.
The notorious “pay gap” is one of the causes of this hindrance. On average, there is a 20% wage difference between men and women. This means that men make at least $10,500 more than women per year, according to the Joint Economic Committee. Even though men make more than women, they aren’t the ones spending the most per year. Forbes says that women make up 85% of all consumer purchases, yet they aren’t compensated fairly to make sense of the disparity in salaries. This inequality initiates a financial burden. If society assumes women as the builders of the family as mothers, why aren’t they paid enough to sustain their households?
Not only are women not paid enough to maintain the lifestyles they’re expected to have, but capitalism has made it harder for them to afford the things they need. The traditional capitalist stance is to make money, no matter what. How did toiletry companies achieve this? By marking up prices on all of the feminine products, of course. This has been labeled in the economic world as the “pink tax.” According to the Department of Consumer Affairs, it started out small, with $0.91 more on a disposable razor marketed towards women with no difference except the pink flowers on the packaging. Then, it became $2.71 more on women’s shampoo with the same ingredients as the men’s. What will that number be in a year or two? Many have made countless calls for action but failed. In 2021, Congresswoman and Rep. Jackie Speier of California introduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act, but it failed to make it out of committee. Who knows when female rights will be important enough to society for the act to be reintroduced?
Aside from the price increase we see on household items, period products also face unfair taxes. Period poverty, the lack of access to menstrual products, menstrual education, and sanitation, makes being a woman hard, especially when more women live in poverty than men due to them being paid less in the corporate world. Taxes on products that menstruating women need should not be as high as they are. The inability to access medical devices such as pads, tampons, panty liners, etc. leads to mental instability among women. It’s degrading and unfair. A hair under half of women experiencing period poverty also experience psychological issues, including anxiety and depression. Forcing women to live in shame and dejection for capitalist greed is wrong. Point blank.
All in all, the pink tax affects every single woman in the world. It’s a stark contrast to the lower prices of products advertised for men, who are paid more than women for the same tasks. While the upcharges may seem small or insignificant, their effects on the 3.95 billion women are anything but. It’s devastating to see that our world deems equal opportunity rights as truly unimportant.
