Pink packaging packs a punch

Shark week, your cycle, aunt flow, or whatever you call it. 

It comes every month and with it comes an economic disadvantage. 

The average price of a box of pads or tampons is $7, and women can spend around $1,773.33 on tampons alone and can spend around $18,171 on their period when accounting for any other products that may be bought to help with period issues, according to pandiahealth.com. 

This is just one aspect of what is commonly called the pink tax. 

The pink tax effects razors, clothing, even children’s toys, or  things like haircuts. 

The pink tax is due to price discrimination. Price discrimination explained very shortly is things costing more because people are willing to pay a higher price for it. 

Price discrimination can be used in a positive way. Things like senior citizen discounts are due to price discrimination, and no one minds paying that small amount more on food to create that discount. 

The pink tax is price discrimination that provides no benefit and isn’t just a little bit more in price. According to an article on the pink tax on healthline.com things that are subject to the pink tax can cost as much as 48% more than a similar men’s product. 

That is not a small difference between prices on products. A 48% price increase is almost paying for the product one and a half times. 

The price increase is pointless too, men’s products aren’t cheaper or at a discount because women’s products cost more. Men’s products are just sensibly and fairly priced. 

The price markups may vary from product to product comparing between men’s and women’s but the take away is the same. Women’s products cost more most of the time. 

According to an article by listenmoneymatters.com women pay more for products or services 42% of the time, they pay an equal amount 40% of the time and men pay more 18% of the time. 

Women have to pay more 42% of the time while they are also being paid less than their male counterparts. So with less money than a man makes a woman is also required to pay more on basic necessities. 

Couldn’t women just stop buying marked-up products? 

The answer to this problem isn’t that simple. 

Professional clothing and makeup are often required at jobs and those will all face a mark-up on prices. Everyone needs to wash their hair and their body and it’s expected that women must shave so they can’t avoid those costs either. 

And then there is the mark-up on period products. These are necessary products for women and they can cost a lot in the long run.  

That’s a big cost and it is just one product’s effect on women’s finances. 

Some states have passed laws in recent years to limit or end the pink tax but many states aren’t taking action to fix the problem at all. 

Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and 27 other states still have the pink tax. 

That’s still a majority of women in the U.S. that face a tax that benefits no one. While the pink tax is pointless, it is a fixture in the United States economy at this point. 

So how do we fix it? Easy, the prices meet in the middle. 

Women’s products go down a little bit and men’s go up to meet them in the middle. This won’t have any negative affect on the economy, and would help many low-income women and end a pointless tax.

 It’s a simple fix and it needs to happen. So I encourage everyone to be an advocate for the women in their life and support things like getting rid of the pink tax.