“Pink tax” (or “woman tax” or “women’s tax”) is a term that means that women pay more for comparable products and services than men pay for them. For example, a pink women’s razor will cost more than a blue men’s razor. A woman’s haircut will be more expensive than a man’s haircut.
 
“Tired of paying the pink tax?” was cited on Twitter on October 14, 2014. “Woman Tax” was cited on Twitter on October 29, 2014. News stories made national news in France and in the United States in November 2014.
 
     
BuzzFeed
18 Lady Products That Cost More Than Their Male Counterparts
Because pink packaging is expensive! #ladyrage
posted on Oct. 12, 2014, at 10:53 a.m.
 
Twitter
Cambridge Women’s
‏@WomensCenter71
Tired of paying the pink tax? Check out this list of products that cost more for women than for men #gendergap: http://www.buzzfeed.com/maitlandquitmeyer/lady-products-that-cost-more-than-their-male-counterparts#2mup8hf …
10:04 AM - 14 Oct 2014
 
Twitter
baby angel
‏@beckyisawrecky
i just learned a new term called pink tax its when there is a “boy” & a “girl” product & they are exactly the same but the girls’ cost more
10:27 AM - 24 Oct 2014
 
Twitter
Agnès Bayou
‏@anyesway
Woman Tax chez Monoprix : signez la pétition Georgette Sand !  http://www.georgettesand.org/on-agit/woman-tax-chez-monoprix-signez-petition-georgette-sand/ …
View translation
6:52 AM - 29 Oct 2014
 
The Huffington Post (France)
Woman tax: Bercy lance une enquête sur les produits de consommation qui seraient plus chers pour les femmes
Le HuffPost avec AFP |  Par Marine Le Breton
Publication: 03/11/2014 14h36 CET Mis à jour: 03/11/2014 14h36 CET
ÉGALITÉ HOMMES FEMMES - On en parle depuis plusieurs semaines: la fameuse “woman tax”. Ou quand être une femme signifie payer plus cher que les hommes pour des produits identiques. Ce lundi 3 septembre, Le Parisien (lien abonné) a enfoncé le clou en publiant, notamment, une interview de la secrétaire d’Etat chargée des Droits des femmes, Pascale Boistard. Dans la foulée, le cabinet du ministre de l’Economie a annoncé avoir lancé une enquête pour faire “une évaluation de relevés de prix” sur certains produits.
 
The Local (France)
Women in France forced to pay hidden ‘pink tax’
Published: 03 Nov 2014 15:20 GMT+01:00
France’s finance ministry has vowed to investigate after angry female consumers launched an online petition to protest against the difference in prices between identical products targeted towards men and women, a phenomenon dubbed the “pink” or “woman” tax.
 
The Guardian (UK)
French stores accused of imposing ‘woman tax’
Government agrees to investigate after women’s rights groups call on supermarkets to stop sexist pricing policies
Kim Willsher in Paris
Tuesday 4 November 2014 06.29 EST Last modified on Tuesday 4 November 2014 19.02 EST
France’s finance ministry has ordered an inquiry into why female shoppers are paying more than male consumers for apparently identical products.
 
Shampoos, deodorants, razors and other goods marketed as “feminine” are subject to what a French women’s rights group says is an “invisible tax” making them pricier.
       
ThinkProgress
France To Investigate ‘The Invisible Women’s Tax’
BY AMELIA ROSCH NOV 4, 2014 11:03 AM
France’s finance ministry will investigate why products that are targeted to women cost more than ones targeted to men, following a petition that gathered over 30,000 signatures.
 
A campaign organized by the women’s group Georgette Sand found that products such as shampoo and razors that are advertised as “female” cost more than identical products marketed to men. They have called on stores, such as the chain Monoprix, where many examples of the gendered pricing was found, to get rid of what they call “invisible woman’s tax.” Monoprix has argued that the gap exists because there are additional manufacturing costs involved in women’s products.
 
France’s secretary of state of women’s rights, Pascale Boistard, supports the campaign and tweeted, “Is pink a luxury color?” in response to the pricing gap.
 
New York (NY) Times
The Pink Tax
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD NOV. 12, 2014
The French feminist collective Georgette Sand — named after the French novelist who wrote under the pseudonym George Sand — has drawn attention to a shopping injustice: sexist pricing policies. In a petition that has attracted more than 40,000 signatures, the group accuses the Monoprix supermarket chain of marking up goods for women. A packet of five pink disposable razors, for instance, was priced at 1.80 euros, or about $2.25, while a packet of 10 blue disposable razors was priced at €1.72.
 
France’s secretary of state for women’s rights, Pascale Boistard, wrote a message on Twitter in support of the collective, asking, “Le rose est-il une couleur de luxe?” (Is pink a luxury color?) The Finance Ministry has ordered an inquiry into possible price discrimination, not just at Monoprix but at French retailers generally.
 
Forbes.com
NOV 13, 2014 @ 10:43 AM
The Pink Tax Is Nothing To Do With Public Policy, Women Can Solve It For Themselves
Tim Worstall , CONTRIBUTOR
The New York Times has picked up on a campaign running in France known as “The Pink Tax”. Essentially, people have noticed that very much the same item seems to be higher priced when it is aimed at women than the version aimed at men. The uber-example being a package of pink disposable razors being marginally more expensive than a very similar package of blue disposable razors. The same seems to be true of, in France at least, toothbrushes, deodorants and so on.
 
One answer we could give is that this simply reflects the way in which women are more likely (if they are of course) to purchase a branded product rather than the supermarket’s own no-name stuff. But that’s not actually what is being said here. Rather, that the supermarket’s own no name stuff is being marketed at a higher price to women than much the same product being marketed to men is.
         
YouTube
Yes, the ‘Women’s Tax’ is a very real thing
The Daily Share
Published on Apr 8, 2015
Subscribe to TDS here: http://bit.ly/TDSsubscribe
Have you ever noticed pink razors costing more than the blue ones? “Made for Women’s” deodorant being more expensive than the “Men’s Sport” edition? Women’s haircut listed more the Men’s? You’re not alone…in 1995 California did a study on gendered pricing, and found women pay $1,351 a year more for the same products.
 
Daily News (New York, NY)
Gender gap prevails in experiment proving ‘women’s tax’ still exists
BY MEREDITH ENGEL Thursday, April 9, 2015, 3:55 PM
Not only do women make less than men — they still pay more for the same stuff.
 
Twenty years after a landmark California study explored the so-called “women’s tax,” a new review of goods and services by The Daily Share reveals that companies are still punishing women for being women.
 
California is the only state that bans gender-based pricing. New York City forbids it, too, but the practice continues, despite 200 violations written up by the Department of Consumer Affairs last year.
 
Foundation for Economic Education—The Freeman
Is There Really a Pink Tax?
Applying economics to the question of prices for men and women
STEVEN HORWITZ
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
(...)
But the idea is back — this time with a twist: pay disparity isn’t the only way in which markets discriminate against women. The latest contender is the so-called “pink tax,” perhaps best described in this video.
 
The idea is that sellers charge women more than men for the exact same product or service. What appears to be the same deodorant or razor is more expensive in the women’s version than in the men’s. Other examples include a whole variety of cosmetics, dry cleaning, and haircuts.
(...)
So is this really a “pink tax” or is it a “blue discount?” And is it really that firms are somehow punishing women, or is it that women’s preferences are such that they are willing to pay more to get exactly the product they want?
       
MoneyTalksNews
New Study Reveals the High Cost of Being a Female
Women — on average — earn less and pay more for many products than men. The solution, however, may be at their fingertips.
By Krystal Steinmetz on December 24, 2015
Women not only earn less than men for doing similar work, they also pay more for comparable products and service. It’s been coined the “woman tax” or the “pink tax” and it’s costing women big bucks.
 
According to a new study from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), women pay about 7 percent more on average than men to purchase similar products. The disparity in gender pricing adds up over a woman’s lifetime.