Are You Hit By The Pink Tax?

Women Do Not Just Earn Less Than Men For The Same Work. They Are Also Fleeced More In The Market.

- Lachmi Deb Roy

Ever wondered why a woman’s razor costs much more than one for men? even for a haircut, there is a huge skew between what men and women are charged, even though the time taken for both is almost the same these days, given how stylish some men’s cuts are. According to a recent study by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, hair care products for women were 48 percent more expensive than the same products for men. even toys for girls are priced higher than those for boys.

There’s a term now for this gendered price differential —’pink tax’. It is the implicit tax women pay to buy products or experience services similar to what men buy, but which are priced higher purely because it is marketed for women. Isn’t this a western thing? Does it really happen in India? You’d be surprised. “I feel this every time the offspring and

I go to get our haircuts,” says author Kiran Manral. “Mine is simple, shoulder-length layers, and I am done before him. His is rather complicated. He wants spikes of a particular gradation, a zero cut from one side, a line cut with a fade on the other side, with a front brush up. When I pay for both, I have paid more than double of his cut for mine, which took half the time. I have just paid the pink tax for being a woman, and nowhere is this more apparent than in beauty services and products where women are often made to pay more than men.”