“It’s a Girl – Birth Announcement” (CC BY 2.0) by Jonathan Rolande at https://housebuyfast.co.uk/

The cost of being a woman is ridiculous at times, honestly. There are so many items that we have to pay for which make frugal living a lot harder – some are unavoidable, whilst others are simply marketed to make us think so. The extra that women pay has been labelled the ‘pink tax’, but according to research by Couponbox, there’s actually a blue tax, too. That means the marketing companies are playing a game with all of us, and are charging us more just by the way packaging looks or the way they manage to convince us we need gender-specific items like razors. Surprisingly, men are paying more on a higher number of items, but women are charged at much higher rates. For example, we pay 317% more for moisturizer, probably because marketers know that all women buy this product. As we’ve already said… it’s ridiculous.

This isn’t the first time the issue has been raised. The absolutely iconic Ellen DeGeneres has spoken out about this in a hilarious way in the past, too! She noted on her show that Bic has a range of pens ‘for her’ which cost twice as much as the normal pens, simply because they are pink and purple. They asked her to be a spokesperson – big mistake! Instead of obliging, she took the company down a peg or two when the only difference she could find was that they were designed for “a woman’s hand’” She said: “What does that mean?  So when we’re taking down dictation from our bosses, we’ll feel comfortable and forget we’re not getting paid as much?” She’s funny, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that a lot of brands have men as the default, and exploit women by charging extra for daring to infiltrate the previously male space!

“Pink” (CC BY-ND 2.0) by lisaclarke

It doesn’t stop there. Clearly, if you’d like some pens and would prefer to buy cheaper ones, you could just opt for another color. But some items are unavoidable. Many states operate a so-called ‘tampon tax’ for our feminine hygiene products. This is also insane because they’re taxed as though they’re luxury items, when they’re clearly anything but. Thankfully, a lot of states across the USA are opting to change things in this respect, because it simply doesn’t seem fair. There’s a worldwide movement to this effect, too.

“disposable razor” (CC BY 2.0) by Muffet

So, if you don’t want to part with more dollars for certain products just because you’re a woman, what can you do? Well, firstly, don’t fall for their marketing ploys. Yes, pink is an awesome color, but it doesn’t affect how good a product is. If a razor “for a man” is cheaper than a razor “for a woman” (just because it’s pretty and pink) – ask yourself: does the hair on your legs look any different depending on the color of the thing you removed it with? The answer is no, so shop smart. Don’t let companies exploit you for your money – you may or may not be a feminist, but you’re smarter than that!