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beMUN 2019

COMMITTEE: UNWOMEN

TOPIC: GENDER BASED PRICING, A.K.A. THE PINK TAX

The pink tax refers to the extra amount women are charged for certain products or services.

Things like dry cleaning, personal care products, and vehicle maintenance. So not only do

women make less but they pay more. Women also live longer so they actually need more

money for retirement. It’s a gender-based pricing, also known as “pink tax,” an upcharge on

products traditionally intended for women which have only cosmetic differences from

comparable products traditionally intended for men.

In other words, it’s not actually a tax. It’s an “income-generating scenario for private

companies who found a way to make their product look either more directed to or more

appropriate for the population and saw that as a moneymaker,” explains Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, a

lawyer, vice president for the Brennan School of Justice at NYU School of Law, and co-founder

of Period Equity.

INTRODUCTION:

During the last year dresses, pants, underwear, stocking and other garments for women

registered an inflation superior to the masculine cases. Trousers for example have risen 2.4% in

the case of women, while for men the increase is 2% around the globe.

“Women are paid less and it’s expected for them to spend more on products and services,

they charge more simply for being woman”

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The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women agreed on a roadmap to women’s

full and equal participation in the economy as a vital step to achieving sustainable development.

Member States during these sessions further called for an end to the practice of gender-based

price differentiation, also known as the ‘pink tax’ – whereby goods and services intended for or

marketed to women and girls cost more than similar items marketed to men and boys during the

last couple of years.

HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM:

The concept of "pink tax" appears in the 1990s in California, United States, a country where

discriminatory prices by gender are not prohibited, found that gender-based pricing represented

more than $ 1,300 extra for women every year. In Britain, the issue was raised in Parliament after

an investigation by The Times discovered that women could be paying almost twice as much as

what a man paid for what appeared to be identical products. It is estimated that the pay gap

between men and women is almost 23%, according to the "Equal Pay" report, prepared by the

International Labor Organization. Women earn 77% of what men earn. This difference varies

according to the sector of the market, the occupation and the country.

The director of the Marketing Department of the School of Business Administration and

Management (ESADE), Marco Bertini, who said that some companies say that the costs of the

products are different because they require different materials to make them. For him, the pink

rate is a marketing issue because women are willing to pay more for the products they consume.

Worldwide, there is a wage inequality between men and women. In general, women receive

a lower salary than men, and yet they pay more than men for the same products

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CURRENT SITUATION

This is considered as an economic discrimination based on gender. The feminine products have

an elevation more than 7% compared to the masculine products. In comparison with other

problems of this type, it does not have any kind of attention compared to others. In some other

countries it has been possible to punish some companies that decide to raise the price to

exclusive products for women. According to a World Bank study, they account for approximately

70% of global purchasing decisions.

Visible study is the one executed by the French State as a result of an action stimulated by

the feminist group Georgette Sand in which the population was invited to share photos in their

social networks of pink tax cases

CONTROVERSIAL POINTS

• Tariffs.

The tariffs on some imported goods vary by whether the product is made for men or

women. On average, clothing imports for women are taxed at a higher rate than clothing

imports for men—15.1 percent compared to 11.9 percent. The higher costs of importing

may be passed on to consumers and contribute to the markup on some goods targeted

to women.

• Product differentiation.

One common marketing strategy firms employ is “product differentiation.” Sellers

frequently distinguish a product or service from others to make it more attractive to a

particular target market, for example by changing the packaging and altering the color of

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a product. However, doing so may increase the cost of production. For example, a

manufacturer may choose to produce a smaller number of pink razors, which could

increase the cost of producing each pink razor relative to the larger run of black razors.

• Price discrimination.

The practice of charging customers different prices for the same product or service is

known in economics as price discrimination. Sellers attract buyers who would otherwise

not purchase their product by offering those buyers a lower price. But it can also mean

higher prices for others who are willing to pay more. Some common examples of price

discrimination include student or senior discounts, discounts for advanced purchases of

airline tickets and higher prices for last-minute purchases.21 If sellers find that women

are less price sensitive and therefore willing to pay more for a particular product or

service, they are more likely to charge a higher Price for a version marketed to women.

• Price fixing.

Some markets may not be fully competitive, and competitors who would drive down

inexplicably high prices for women’s versions of products and services may be prevented

from entering the market. As a result, firms holding a significant share of market power

would be able to continue charging more for goods and services targeting women. This

could indicate that there is a role for government intervention as the federal government

takes an active role in maintaining competitive markets

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INVOLVED COUNTRIES

The pink tax refers to the price difference in products; it also includes taxation of tampons and

pads as luxury items, also called the tampon tax.

Forty states in the United States of America impose a tax, being California, Hawaii and New

York the states with the highest rates of this tax.

Illustation 1.1 From Phillipines, two scooters for boy and girl

Similarly, personal products in the Philippines are also more expensive for women compared

to men. An online grocery retailer sells razor knives for men for P 81.75 and female razors for the

same brand for P 122.25.

Also in Latin America we can find examples such as Argentina where women's products on

average are 14% more expensive than those for men. But not only in the American continent is

where we can find this tax since in France according to multiple women “A packet of five pink

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disposable razors was priced at 1.80 Euros, or about $2.25, while a packet of 10 blue disposable

razors was priced at €1.72”. In addition, a quick look from The Associated Press to the prices of

haircuts and store aisles in Paris found some disparities. Haircut: women 43 euros, men 26.

Deodorant roll-on: women 2.04 euros, men 1.96. Shaving gel: 2.87 euros in a pink bottle, 2.39 in

a blue.

Illustration 1.2 - Price differentiation in EU

In Mexico we can also find these disparities, recently a study was made and found a bicycle in

pink is more expensive than blue (2,290 pesos against 2,330) taking into account that it is the

same model and only

the color has been

changed.

Illustration 1.3 - Price differentiation in Mexico

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REFERENCES:

• García, Ana Karen. (2018). Pink tax: la cara invisible de la desigualdad de precios por género. 27

January 2019, From El Economista, Online:

https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/empresas/Pink-tax-la-cara-invisible-de-la-

desigualdad-de-precios-por-genero-20181003-0046.html

• King, Theresa. (2017). The Pink Tax: Yes, It's Real. 27 January 2019, From Odyssey, Online

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/pink-tax-real

• Del Real, Janneth. (2018). Impuesto rosa, una realidad… desde México hasta Argentina. 27 January

2019, From Expoknews. Online https://www.expoknews.com/impuesto-rosa-una-realidad-

desde-mexico-hasta-argentina/

• N.A. (2017). Are women overcharged? France probes price of pink. 27 January 2019, From Daily

Mail. Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2840654/Are-women-

overcharged-France-probes-price-pink.html

• Danee Torres. (2018). This is why women’s products are often more expensive. 27 January 2019,

From Nolisoli, Online http://nolisoli.ph/45788/pink-tax/

• Chavez, Valeria (2018) “Pink tax”, la cara menos visible de la desigualdad de género que

afecta la economía de las mujeres en todo el mundo. Online:

https://www.infobae.com/tendencias/2018/03/30/pink-tax-la-cara-menos-visible-de-la-

desigualdad-de-genero-que-afecta-la-economia-de-las-mujeres-en-todo-el-mundo/

• Sebastian, Clare. (2016) ¿Por qué las mujeres pagan más que los hombres por las mismas

cosas? Online: https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2016/03/08/por-que-las-mujeres-pagan-

mas-que-los-hombres-por-las-mismas-cosas/