Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw spoke out against the 'Pink Tax,' highlighting the unfair price gap between women's and men's products in a video shared on X. She encouraged women to boycott such products, addressing the prevalent gender-based price disparities, especially in personal care items like soaps and razors.
“Pink Tax! A shameful gender bias that women must respond to by shunning such products!” she wrote on X.
What is Pink tax?
Pink tax is the concept where all kinds of products designed for women are more expensive compared to similar ones sold for men, despite those products having similar functionality and ingredients. This price difference is often seen across various consumer goods and services, including personal care products, clothing, toys, and even services like dry cleaning.
This issue was brought to light when New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs conducted a study in 2015 which found many instances of gendered pricing among several products. The researchers examined 800 different gendered products across 100 brands. It concluded that on average the price of female personal care items was 13% higher than those for men. Also, the prices of women's accessories as well as adult clothing increased by 7% and 8%.
In another US study, dry cleaning prices for women's dress shirts were higher than 90% than those of men's shirts. Likewise, in the UK it was found that on average women's deodorant was 8.9% more expensive than men's whereas women's facial moisturizer was priced higher by 34.28%.
These studies prove that, in the long run, women spend thousands of dollars extra for the same products that men do in their lifetime. Contrary to the name, the pink tax is not a real tax; it is unofficial. This tax is very universal as it affects the finances of women all over the world. A handful of states and localities have laws that outlaw gendered price discrimination, but no national law has been passed, though several bills have been introduced.
