The Women’s Tax - Neatorama

The “women’s tax” is a real thing. Products and services tend to cost more when they are gendered, meaning they are labeled to sell to women, or they are painted pink. There are plenty of examples in this video from The Daily Share. Commenters immediately pointed out that men pay more for car insurance because they cause more accidents, which is kind of like long-term care insurance for women. If we could get men to drive better or women to die younger, things would even out, but neither sex really wants to make that sacrifice. As for the products, I learned long ago that buying merchandise in the men’s aisle (unscented, please) can save money over time. The dollars add up fast when shopping for children’s clothing. -via Time

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Here's an article on Forbes that cites a couple of other articles and studies. Of course anecdotes don't prove anything, but they are an easier way for people to understand a phenomenon.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2012/05/15/the-woman-tax-how-gendered-pricing-costs-women-almost-1400-a-year/

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Also, the discrepancy in health insurance costs isn't just living longer, it's mostly the whole "having babies" thing. So women who don't have babies have to bear higher insurance costs for the ones that do because, of course, men have no part in that.

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Woman's shave cream is less expensive. Women's hair dye is less expensive. Women get to drink for half price on Thursdays.

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I'm not saying this doesn't exist, but it seems some of these price differences (for products) are purely anecdotal. Without knowing all the factors that play into pricing I don't think you can just say "women's tax". The razors for instance aren't exactly the same. Maybe the women's razor costs more to produce, or that women buy less of that razor compared to men so the price is slightly higher to match supply and demand.

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True, that's why I mentioned it in the post. Insurance is a totally weird business separate from the other products and services. And sometimes the stats they use don't make much sense. Last time I moved, our car insurance doubled because we moved less than half a mile -into another county! The company said it was because the drivers in this county cause more accidents. But we are the same safe, over-50 drivers we were before we moved! No matter. We switched to a company that didn't go by county stats.

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