Paying for pink
Why is the world so intent on gouging women? Women make less than men while paying more for the same stuff. This month, an international ride-hailing company operating in Nairobi decided to provide female customers with a woman-driver-only option to address widespread harassment and assault from male drivers. Nice idea, but it turns out this service to offer women safety will cost them more. Once again, the pink tax — where women pay more than men for the same product or service — comes into play. This longstanding trend has included everything from shampoo, deodorant and pink-packaged laxatives and razors to haircuts and dry cleaning. New research by ParseHub shows that the gap, which has been known about for years, is as bad or worse today. The data company’s first study in 2016 found that women paid about 43 per cent more for hygiene products. Its new research shows the gap has only widened.
AK