Study: Retailers Charge Women More Than Men For the Same Products

A study from the New York Consumer Affairs Board has found that women’s products are priced higher than the men’s product equivalent by an average of 7 percent, and that we pay more than men 42 percent of the time. Now if that ain’t some bullshit!

Via WWD, the study is entitled From Cradle to Cane: The Cost of Being a Female Consumer, and looked at examples marketed to a specific gender as well as those that were gender-neutral. For instance, refills for a Schick razor geared towards women—“Hydro Silk,” with packaging in fuchsia and advertising that looks like the photo above—cost $18.99 on Amazon. But similar Schick refills geared towards men—the “Hydro 5,” packaged in navy blue—cost $14.99. And a near-identical pair of jeans shows a $20 mark-up on those marked “Women’s” as opposed to those marked “Men’s,” up $88 from $68.

From the Department of Consumer Affairs:

Over the course of a woman’s life, the financial impact of these gender-based pricing disparities is significant. In 1994, the State of California studied the issue of gender-based pricing of services and estimated that women effectively paid an annual “gender tax” of approximately $1,351 for the same services as men. While DCA’s study does not estimate an annual financial impact of gender pricing for goods, the findings of this study suggest women are paying thousands of dollars more over the course of their lives to purchase similar products as men.

Of course, we probably don’t have to remind you that the “gender tax” is on top of our lower wages: white women make 78 percent of what a white man makes, while most women of color make even less than that (Black women: 64 percent. Latinas: 54 percent). And the gender-based pricing doesn’t just affect adults. As “Cradle to the Cane” infers, the study found that toys geared towards girls cost 7 percent more than toys geared towards boys, and that products for senior women cost 8 percent more than senior men. In other words, they’re charging women for simply existing. Some bullshit!