The pink tax. Though this tax is not a real tax, it is still a real deal. The pink tax is a marketing discrimination tactic, and women young and old have to face this problem everyday, by paying excessive prices for necessary hygiene products.

The pink tax needs to be illegal because it hurts the way women have to live.

In the U.S. the gender wage gap between men and women is around $10,500, men making more than women. This does not include part-time as women usually make 2.9% more. In the full-time working world, women make 80% of what men make. This is relevant because of the extreme difference in the cost of living between the two genders. 

The cost of living is so different because of taxes like the pink tax and the tampon tax. Though the pink tax is not a real tax that the government enforces, businesses all around charge women more for consumer items directed towards females. Basic necessities such as razors, soap, deodorant, toothbrushes and clothing cost more than those same items directed towards men. 

For a 5 pack of Gillette disposable razors for women it costs $4.50, which is 90 cents per razor. For a 10 pack of Gillette disposable razors targeted at men it costs $8.91 which is 89 cents per razor. Even a one cent difference makes a big difference. A 3 ounce men’s Speed Stick deodorant costs $1.63. A 1.4 ounce women’s Speed Stick deodorant costs $1.36. The prices for these men’s products look higher than these women products, but the men’s products have more. Women pay more for less. Even if it’s just a couple of cents, the money adds up in the end, big time. 

Many so-called ‘researchers’ have ‘debunked’ the pink tax, calling it a myth and a hoax made up by the left to divide people. However, in all the articles none has actual facts that prove their point. One of the articles by Patrice Onwuka states that women choose to pay more by choosing the products that cost more, but many people tell women, they root it into their heads since they were children, that women shouldn’t use mens products. 

Overall, the pink tax is most definitely real. It affects women everywhere, and with inflation in the U.S. on the rise it will keep heavily affecting women, especially the young women graduating high school in recent years. Getting paid either 2.9% more or 20% less than men doesn’t help the situation. The prices of women’s consumer goods will go up and women are going to continue to struggle. 

People say life isn’t fair and they’re right, but life can be equal. If people would stop pushing problems such as this to the side then there wouldn’t be inequality.