The pink tax is becoming a more widely discussed topic – and its been a long time coming. For those of you who don’t know, the pink tax refers to the extra expenses and cost women are expected to pay for products. Many articles refer to them as “personal care products” or “other desires” when really what they are feminine hygiene products and other socially normalized products women are expected to purchase.
Now there are many parts of this topic that can be dissected but let’s start with the facts. In 2015 the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs published that products for women or girls cost on average 7% more than comparable products for men and boys. This number increases to 13% for “personal care” products. So along with the extra expenses that women must buy, their products in general are more expensive.
The pink tax is initially named after the sales tax that tampons and pads are charged with because of it being considered a “luxury item.” I think most women can agree that periods are not a luxury we enjoy – but I don’t thing the men of Congress understand that.
We are in an era of empowering women and encouraging speech about the oppression that women experience, especially those of color, on a day to day basis. In terms of poverty, more than one in eight women, nearly 16.3 million according to National Women’s Law Center as of 2016, are living in poverty. With many decades of oppression that we are currently fighting through, it is important that we also fight that of imposed taxes and extra expenses. This is crucial to helping those women out of poverty and building better circumstances for women in our country.
We all just want equal opportunity and pricey products inhibit that!