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52 Women Share The Dumbest Examples Of A “Pink Tax” They’ve Experienced
Being a woman is expensive, even more so than being a man. They invest a chunk of their money in makeup, skin care, reproductive healthcare, and maternity costs, to name a few.
To add insult to injury, the pink tax makes these expenses even pricier than most women would prefer. If you don’t know, it is the hidden extra cost companies charge for their products, which, in some ways, further highlights the gender gap and inequality.
Here are some examples of the pink tax at play, as shared by the women who feel its burden in their daily lives.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The one where I get paid less than my male peers.
RELATED:
#2
Not money related but worth mentioning.
Men raising their voice during an argument at work; they're "expressing themselves".
Women raising their voice during an argument at work; they're getting "emotional".
#3
Birthday cake. Same cake, same filling, but pink frosting cost more than the blue cake for whatever reason I simply cannot understand. I asked why the pink one was almost 20% more expensive. The cashier didn't know, couldn't answer me.
Jokes on them. Bought the blue one and made Elsa themed birthday party for my daughter.
#4
I bought a coat once when I was relatively poor and so I looked at the men’s. Same coat, men’s colours ( ie black/navy/red instead of “girly” colours), more fabric because it was longer, it was $20 less for the men’s coat.
#5
A few years back, I went to PetsMart to get a birthday treat for my dog. They had these "cakes" that had little slices already cut into them. They weren't the "bakery fresh" type, but like a boxed treat. They had one (in a blue box) for a good boy or one (in a pink box) for a perfect princess. Everything else was exactly the same-- size, ingredients, color of the actual cakes, etc. The one for girls was a dollar more. Like what the actual hell? Dogs can't even see pink!!
Lukas (alt) 4 days ago
What made me sad was that my local pet store had birthday cake treats for dogs, but not for cats.
#6
Menstrual products. Why am I spending almost $30 on some pads?? It’s not my fault I bleed every month. Then you have cancer causing chemicals and heavy metals in them.. like dude.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
I switched to period panties a few years ago. It's WAY more maintenance and kinda grosser (you have to rinse out the panties if you aren't going to be immediately laundering them, vs just tossing a pad or tampon into the trash) but it's so much cheaper in the long run than buying boxes of pads or tampons. The panties are pricy, but you can use them over and over again. And I cannot even convey the peace of mind that they give overnight! No matter HOW I placed multiple pads, I always seemed to leak overnight - I had to sleep on towels. With the period panties, that's no longer a risk.
#7
Our clothes often being flimsy, paper thin, and needlessly cropped compared to men's, but yet also costing more.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 4 days ago
Can I interest you in a pair of trousers that have functional pockets?
#8
Men can get a vasectomy no problem, insurance says yes.
A female goes day in and day out with severe bleeding, and insurance says no.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
I've been fighting to get a hysterectomy for most of my adult life. I've wanted one since I was a kid - I knew I never wanted children, and I've had painful, excruciatingly-long periods ever since I started menstruating at 11. The last time I saw my OBGYN a few years ago, she STILL refused to even do a tubal ligation because "I might want children someday". Bítch, I'm past 40, no, I do NOT want children "someday"! So... I had to settle for an IUD, which has done nothing for my painful, long periods :(
#9
Body hair is seen as gross on us and fine on men.
Did I say that out loud? 3 days ago
I find this one very interesting. Recently there seems to be more women saying, "fúck it, I've got body hair, deal with it!" And fair play to everyone who thinks that. But, I've noticed a definite increase in advertising towards men removing their body hair recently. The cosmetics industry try to create new beauty standards for men to protect their profits, perhaps?
#10
Prescription [meds] tested/developed for men that are less effective for women.
Kathy Brooke 3 days ago
Paracetamol (Tylenol) is the obvious one - barely works on women. It's most effective as a booster for other pain meds. Some research is done on a varied group now, but huge numbers of routine meds weren't
#11
Pants with functional pockets. If you find them they cost way more than men’s pants which ALL have pockets you can stick keys and a phone in.
#12
Shoes, like anything plain and flat. Sandals, tennis shoes, and boots. I can find one I like in women's, then walk over to the men's and find the exact same shoe, just with different sizing and $10 less. So I have a lot of men's shoes and nobody knows.
Bored Jellyfish 3 days ago
And they’re wider, too! In what fantasy land do women have such narrow feet as the shoe industry thinks we have?
#13
Having to go to the doctor more often for issues because "it's just anxiety and lose some weight".
Tabitha 3 days ago
I spent decade having a hard time maintaining a healthy weight. I had to practically starve myself and exercise like a fiend to maybe drop a half a pound in a week or two. But boy oh boy, could I gain weight really easy! Every d****d time I would discuss it with my doctor, and ask if may I have a slow metabolism, I got the same “eat less and exercise more” b******t. Butch, that is what I am ALREADY DOING and it is NOT WORKING!! It got worse at menopause, so I started seeing a hormone specialist. So it wasn’t until I was in my 50s that I was finally told I have hypothyroidism! I am on thyroid meds and have been easily maintaining a healthy weight for years now—-and I do not have to starve myself and exercise til I drop. Had any of my previous doctors even tried to check my metabolism by doing the proper thyroid tests, I wouldn’t have had to struggle so hard practically my entire adult life.
#14
The bikini top and bottom being priced as two separate swimsuits when it's like ten inches of fabric.
Red Hair Blue Soul 3 days ago
Anyone else tired of the one named after a card? Mr. Mansplainer in the comments
#15
I saw a video where a woman was showing the price of children socks at like Walmart or Target. On the boys side, bluey socks were $3.
On the girls side, bluey socks cost $9. The cheapest pair overall was still like $6.
The tax starts when we’re just babies.
Roxy222uk 3 days ago
Babies and small children don’t know, and won’t care if the parents don’t care. Shop in both aisles to buy their clothes and tell them that’s normal. Only once they hit puberty and their bodies start to change shape does it matter in the slightest. I did this with all of mine and none minded.
#16
Razor blades. Pink ones are more expensive. I’ve been using a men’s razor since high school because I figured it out. I told my neighbor (who is married and has 2 sons) and she nearly fell over. She has since seen the light.
Bored Jellyfish 3 days ago
Women’s razors are c**p anyway. I’ve always bought men’s. Better quality razors.
#17
I buy winter coats almost exclusively from the men section, they are better built, have large pockets and no weird sewing to imply "hourglass sillhouette".
#18
Auto repair. I swear I've paid thousands extra over unneeded "repairs". The number of times mechanics have told me my "clutch is going out" or "brakes need work" is pretty appalling. Especially when I've brought it in for something else that I know is wrong.
#19
I'm a butch lady who usually cuts her own hair. But my therapist told me it would be good for me to let somebody else do it, so I went to a barber who worked at a cheapo local unisex hair salon. Men's haircuts $21. Women's haircuts $27. I went in there, pointed to a series of men's haircuts from her Instagram, about 2" long on top, fade on the sides. She did that. Charged me $27. I woulda tipped her more than that, it was a great haircut, but I'm back to doing it myself on principle.
Did I say that out loud? 3 days ago
I remember a court case in England along these lines many years ago. A couple (husband and wife) went to a hairdressers and had similar work done. The wife was charged considerably more and they ended up taking it to court. The judge actually ruled in favour of the salon because, as he put it (yes,obviously a man) a woman would generally expect her hair to be done to a much higher standard than a man. Unfortunately, I have no recollection on whether the ruling was challenged in a higher court or any subsequent ruling.
#20
Symptoms of a heart attack are different in women and many medical providers brush off women experiencing symptoms as anxiety a long with everything else that women experience. We get gaslit by Drs more often than men.
Tabitha 3 days ago
The excuse given back in the eighties and nineties was that there are too many variables with women, so they couldn’t establish a control variable for comparison. Flimsy, I know. Wouldn’t you think the variables are THE reason to test for women’s heart attack symptoms—-instead of letting us d*e because doctors have no clue we’re actually having heart attacks because our symptoms do NOT mirror those of men?
#21
On toddler PJs this weekend. There was a rack with two version of Halloween PJs, the girl directed one was $17, the boys was $12. Same material just different prints and color. My daughter got the boy ones.
#22
The expectation to wear makeup in professional and formal settings. More broadly, the narrative that to be presentable is to look young and beautiful. We already make less on average, and yet we are expected to spend far more of our disposable income on essentially useless cosmetic products and services just to avoid social stigma.
On top of the money, though, it also takes up our free time. One survey found that, as a very rough estimate, women spend two whole weeks a year on our appearance. It's not like I'm against makeup or looking good or anything, but I feel like beauty culture as a whole, whether intentionally or not, ends up serving as a socially-enforced drain on women's money, time, mental health, and energy.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
I loathe wearing makeup. My mother was born in 1944 and she is of the generation/mentality that believes a woman shall not go out in public without a full face of makeup, perfectly coiffed hair, and well-dressed. She will spend an hour putting on makeup just to go to the grocery store for 15 minutes. I have confused and infuriated her all my life with my refusal to wear makeup on a daily basis. I'm prone to acne (still! I'm 44!) and wearing makeup makes me break out, plus I hate how itchy it makes me and I hate the work I have to do to clean it off/remove it. No thank you. I don't need to calculate my value by the amount of makeup I slather onto my face. I am worthy and I am a real woman even if I don't wear makeup to go to the grocery store.
#23
Minoxidil for women.
It's rogain. They sell it topical as a foam or liquid to put on your scalp. You can buy it at wal mart. Women (up until very recently) were only recommended 2.5% solution because it could affect hormones, so Rogain for women is It's own product. For men, the solution was 5% and is It's own product.
Guess which version was more expensive? It literally has less of the ingredient and it costs more.
Littlemiss 3 days ago (edited)
Try caffeine shampoo it was cheaper and helped for post partum hair loss. It was marked for men and cost half as much as stuff for women.
#24
Last week Target had women’s razors 25% off but men’s were 30% , I made a comment about it out loud and some old MAGAt went on a diatribe about how this is a woman’s world and men deserved the extra 5% ?!?! Lmao, “ok buddy”.
Tabitha 3 days ago
Throw his “logic” right back at him. “If it’s such a ‘woman’s world’, you old fart, why am I still making less salary than a man doing the exact same job as I am? The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, but women still make less than men in the same jobs. Wouldn’t it make more sense that the person making less ‘deserves’ the bigger discount?”
#25
I mobile order chipotle under my husband's name because they fill it more than they had been when I ordered under my own name.
#26
When damages are calculated in a civil case, women’s loss of income damages are automatically discounted because it is assumed that a woman will, at least once in her life, leave the workforce to have a child.
#27
Menopause treatment. More women are going onto HRT but big pharma won’t increase production of estrogen patches. So women have interruptions in their care.
#28
Earplugs. The regular type are cheap but the "women's" are more expensive. I also heard a radio ad for Old Navy with a back to school sale. Kid's and men's shirts are $6 each, women's were $8 each. Like literally WTH.
#29
Not exactly the answer you’re looking for, but the fact that, out of nearly 200 countries in the world, only 8 implement menstrual leave policies at the national level is unbelievable.
Women may face bigger issues, but this is also a very real one for those of us who go through excruciating pain every single month due to biological reasons. The only solution most of us have is to use up our sick leave allowance.
#30
Women are often misdiagnosed for mental disorders like ADHD because the tests are built around male brains.
#31
Hair dresser who is my friend i got charged 80 dollars for my cut and style. Wavy hair halfway down back. Ex who had [long] medusa curls...30.
ABC NoThirteen FUCKCENSORISM! 2 days ago
The original wording is "Ex who had medusa curls down to his BUTT". Fuck this censorist bullshit.
#32
I was at Walmart trying to buy white socks and they came in packs of like 4. And then I walked through the men’s section and they had a massive bag of like 24 socks for the same price. And they had bags of underwear like that. I was so mad they didn’t have a small enough size.
#33
Dress trousers. No pockets. [Terrible] workmanship. Same price as men’s pants that have all the seams nicely finished.
ABC NoThirteen FUCKCENSORISM! 2 days ago
The original wording is "SHIT workmanship". Fuck this censorist bullshit.
#34
Blue collar workwear. Either you need to buy from a company that exclusively makes women's workwear and costs a lot more. Or you pay the same as the men's version but the quality is inferior (carhartt pocket shirts and winter chore coats are a prime example). At 5'0 and 95lbs I cant just "buy the men's clothes" the loose fabric is a major safety hazard in a factory or on a jobsite.
Tropical Tarot 3 days ago
My grandmother did factory work in the late '80s early '90s. They were required to wear Brown uniforms and buy them for one certain company. However she was also required to wear a dress. They didn't make the uniform dresses in brown, just white. They told her to figure it out so she had to dye her clothing in order to be able to go to work. Of course no reimbursement for dye or the discoloration on her washer.
#35
Dry cleaning. Some dry cleaners charge men a few dollars a shirt, but if a woman brings in a cotton button down shirt she will pay many times more.
#36
Surgery.
OBGYNs get paid less
Insurance will pay gyns less to perform Women's surgeries....and will pay less out to cover them so you pay more out of pocket.
Because of this women's surgeries get the worst surgery time and day. Fridays in afternoon. Inductions on on Fridays or Saturdays nights and get charged for the whole day.
Pregnant women, if you are going in to deliver, go right after midnight! Schedule for 1am! you don't get charged for the whole day before.
Did I say that out loud? 3 days ago
I'm certainly not going to argue with the sentiment, but, it seems like the health care system is the main problem here.
#37
Something that accidentally came up when my husband bought women's multivitamin gummies instead of his usual men's at Costco - the amounts of vitamins were less in the gummies and it was slightly more expensive. I think he said there were fewer gummies as well, but I'm not sure now if he meant it by amounts or actual gummies.
StrangeOne 2 days ago
There will, of course, be a variations on amounts of vitamins for men and women.
#38
The price difference for basic stuff like shampoo is infuriating, same product but women pay more.
StrangeOne 2 days ago
Uh. I use Compliments version of Dove shampoo and conditioner. As far as I can tell, it's unisex. Many hair products are unisex.
#39
Bic pens for her.
#40
As a primary teacher—the mental exhaustion that comes from the pressure of a cute classroom. I just watched a video from a male hs teacher who joked that he didn’t need to put anything decorative up. Yet—if my room looked like his (me being a Kindergarten teacher), parents would be unimpressed. Decorative items comes out of my pocket. I know I don’t have to make it Pinterest ready and I won’t do that because it definitely goes against research, but it needs to look presentable and organized.
#41
I bought men’s shirts and had them altered. Then I could get them laundered for the male price of 99 cents instead of $5.99 for women’s.
T'Mar of Vulcan 3 days ago
I buy men's shirts and find that everything is context-specific. As in, people don't realize you're wearing a man's shirt unless you point it out. When I was undergoing chemo I wore men's shirts with buttons (to make it easier for the needle to go in the port, on my upper chest) and often got compliments on my "beautiful blouses"!
#42
I read Invisible women, you can say buying women’s product is dumb example but seriously the dumbest thing is when you have family of man and woman with kids, women pay higher tax to government through her salary based on statistics and men get tax refund much higher. Women work less paid jobs but in terms of taxation they get taxed higher than men in the same household. That is the dumbest thing ever if you ask me.
#43
Women's workwear is substandard compared to men's even with the same brands. Mens are proper fitting, better materials and more often more material. I made a complaint to HR and they said they were the same, I brought up 2 examples to prove they were not the same. The mens outdoor coats had hoods and the womens didn't. Apparently they didn't think women would work outside as much as the men so they could go cheaper. I rebought all the women the mens clothes in the women's sizes....cost them double then...was nice having pockets in my trousers!
#45
Went to walmart to buy jeans. Levi 501s were stocked in the mens and womens section. There was no discernible difference between the two pairs. I tried both on. even the pockets were the same size. The jeans in the mens section were $5 cheaper.
#46
A company tried to make me pay money to update my legal name on documents. I think I'd rather just get a lawyer for that.
#47
It's the smallest dumbest thing here but one day I was at the supermarket, looking for an exfoliating glove to use in the shower and the only one they had came in grey and was labelled "Men's Exfoliating Shower Glove" like women don't have skin to exfoliate. And it's not even that rough, like it's not a darn steel scrubber for the dishes, why would my skin be "too delicate" for this shower glove?
Tyranamar Seuss 2 days ago
Women"s skin is thinner than men's. It's softer too. Thank estrogen for that.
#48
Deodorant! They separate the women’s and men’s and I read through all of them and the men’s have a higher percentage of aluminum for cheaper.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 days ago
I've been using men's deodorant for years. I unfortunately have a hell of a nasty pit-stink even soon after a shower, and I've stunk my way through every women's deodorant I've ever used. So... Axe it is XD The dark-chocolate-scented one is quite nice!
#49
Clothing quality - material and sizing. Husband and I both ordered the same version and color of Carhartt overalls this year, other than one being the women's version and one being the men's. They show up and are entirely differently made. His are a fantastic thick fabric that holds shape and is durable. Mine were so flimsy they they got creases from me sitting down. Ridiculous.
Clothing pricing - the amount of women's clothing that costs more for larger sizes is ridiculous. I don't see this in men's clothing.
Cost of services. His haircut - 30 bucks. My haircut - 200. Even if I just get a trim, it still costs more.
Charges for necessary products: menstrual products, deodorants.
Bored Jellyfish 3 days ago (edited)
I have a women’s Carhartt jacket (which I LOVE), and the men’s does cost $10 more, but it course, has more and better outer and inner pockets.
#50
Having a separate doctor for reproductive health while men are able to do most if not all of their yearly check-ups at their primary.
Forrest Hobbs 4 days ago
That's not how it works here in the UK - nor, I'd guess, in most of Europe.
#51
Pink everything costing like 5$ more than it actually should. Also for some reason women deodorants do NOT work for me like at all.
#52
Public restroom fees are basically a woman tax.
Did I say that out loud? 3 days ago
Over here (UK) it's either free or everyone "spends a penny ".
What do you think ?
liam newton-harding 3 days ago (edited)
Laughing at a certain panda mansplaining to pretty much every comment...and woman...about how they are just being silly girls, and should stop complaining about something they, personally experience, every single day :)
Lukas (alt) 3 days ago
Hey, Ace? Do everyone a favor and shut the fuck up. I will never understand cis men who come onto articles where women share their lived experinces and say "um, actually-" You have never lived as a woman, so your words mean nothing, especially when you are so blatantly wrong.
Problematic Pangolin 1 day ago
Ace is intolerable. ALWAYS whining and complaining.
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liam newton-harding 3 days ago (edited)
Laughing at a certain panda mansplaining to pretty much every comment...and woman...about how they are just being silly girls, and should stop complaining about something they, personally experience, every single day :)
Lukas (alt) 3 days ago
Hey, Ace? Do everyone a favor and shut the fuck up. I will never understand cis men who come onto articles where women share their lived experinces and say "um, actually-" You have never lived as a woman, so your words mean nothing, especially when you are so blatantly wrong.
Problematic Pangolin 1 day ago
Ace is intolerable. ALWAYS whining and complaining.
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