The Pink Tax. The extra amount of money women are charged for certain products or services. The silent killer, slowly draining out every single woman's bank account. I was its newest victim, mindlessly wandering through my local beauty supply store grabbing my essentials, glancing at prices, but still being completely surprised when I got to the cashier and my total was way more than I expected it to be. I'd walk out of stores staring at my receipts wondering why my Dove shampoo was so expensive and how a single razor could cost $9.00. I didn't only want to spend less when it came to shopping for my dorm, but I needed to.
Two weeks before I moved in, I found myself spending several hours at my local beauty supply store, feeling like Santa Clause looking at my list and checking it twice ensuring I had everything I need. I grabbed all the things I knew I would not be able to live without, my essentials, the things I was willing not to splurge on, but spend what needed to be spent. So there I was in aisle 26 picking up some razors, scanning the shelves looking for the cheapest brand, and that's when I noticed it, a pack of women's razors was $9.00 compared to $7.99 for men's. I was genuinely confused, why were women paying more for razors when they were essentially the same?
I began to investigate and realized it wasn't just razors women generally paid more for, but literally everything! Toys, haircuts, food, personal care products, and it's not only the big businesses who have a tendency price women's products higher than men's, but also standard family-owned businesses which can probably be found all around your town, especially home and car repair businesses. Repairmen are more likely to give women a higher quote than men for the same repairs. For years women have been silent and continuously fallen victim to the Pink Tax, but not anymore.
Many people have equated the saying of "don't get mad, over things you cannot control" to the Pink Tax. Rather, I equate the saying "why get mad, when you can get even?" And by "getting even" I mean purchasing personal care products from companies who fairly price their products. One of these companies is Billie. Billie is a female first company putting women first when it comes to razors, something other companies don't. By doing this they hope to change the production of razors to consider both men and women equally when creating their products. A second company that is fighting the Pink Tax is Boxed. They began their fight by looking inside their own company. After realizing the gap between men and women's personal care products on their own website they decided to "Rethink Pink," by fighting for price equality and end the taxation of tampons. Slowly but surely these companies hope to make a change when it comes to equality and pricing.
So instead of sacrificing your own happiness and purchasing men's products because they're cheaper, or continuing to give into the unfair increase in pricing of women's products consider looking into companies who are working to change the Pink Tax, because why should companies be allowed to overcharge women, just for being women?
