GENDER INEQUALITY : PURCHASING THINGS AND SERVICES

    Nowadays, gender inequality in purchasing things become a popular issue that discussed in the society. However, research shows that consumer products targeted and advertised to women are sometimes more expensive than products marketed for men. Gender-based price disparities are prevalent in several sectors, such as personal care products, clothing, dry cleaning services and there are also have some effects of gender inequality in purchase things.

First of all, one of the most visible is personal care products. These includes, soaps, lotions, razor blades and deodorants that are marketed specifically to either women or men. It is because, one of the research study in the United States, analysed 800 gender-specific products from nearly 100 brands (Bill de Blasio & Mayor, 2015). The report shows that personal care products targeted to women were 13% more expensive than similar men’s products. According to this report, we know that most of the time, women give a specific importance to buy their personal care products compared to men. The sellers use this opportunity to raise their earning in business by selling women’s personal care products in higher prices compared to men’s.

 

Next, one of the research study in the United States proved that accessories and adult clothing for women were 7% and 8% more expensive, respectively compared to men (Bill de Blasio & Mayor, 2015). For instance, one of each average item cost women $307.38 and cost men $285.85, a difference of $21.53. It happens due to the business strategies that utilised by the owner of a certain products supplier and the head management of a shopping mall in order to make more earnings. In addition, another factor that contributes to gender inequality in accessories is the US study found that dry cleaning prices for women’s dress shirts were upwards of 90% more expensive than for men’s shirts (Joint Economic Committee, 2016). With this service, prices are typically higher for women, such as laundering a women’s button-down shirt, compared with a men’s button-down shirt.  

 

Therefore, one of the effects of gender inequality in purchase things is women have to pay more compared to men when buy a particular product at shops. To show that, the “pink tax” is the higher prices paid by women for certain products and services also used by men (Longley & Robert, 2021). The pink tax effect is often criticized as a form of economic gender discrimination. In other words, women bear the burden when buying certain products by paying such kind of tax. Especially, the single mothers will experience financial difficulties when they go for shopping because they would be pay tax for certain products that they are buying.

 

Evidently, based on the studies and researches above, we can conclude that "women are paying thousands of dollars more over the course of their lives to purchase similar products as men” (Wakeman & Jessica, 2020).  As a measure to address this problem, the government should enforce the law so that it can easily address this issue and it helps to create gender equality in purchase things in the society.