You Pay More Than Men for Comparable Products Because of the 'Pink Tax'

Studies have found that female-branded products are priced higher than products targeting men in what's commonly called the 'pink tax,' which results in women paying around $1,300 more a year than their male counterparts. Some of the items and services women pay more for include dry cleaning, apparel, and hygiene products. Here's a maddening roundup of the things women get overcharged for.

Women also overpay for razors, sometimes even when they have the exactly same components.

Some companies have taken a stand against the 'pink tax' like Billie, a brand that takes a"women first" approach to manufacturing products. As their website states: "We’re strongly against the pink tax. That’s why our razors aren’t just half the price of women’s shaving brands, they’re priced in line with men’s razor subscriptions."

Did you know that you're paying more to get a comparable shirt pressed at your local dry cleaners than the dude standing next to you? In 2016, CVS sent two undercover reporters — one male and one female — to several dry cleaners in New York City. One example, among several, crystalizes the gross disparity in cost. In one location, the female reporter was charged $7.50 while the male was charged only $2.85 for a shirt of the same material.

Body lotions targeting women cost an average of 11 percent more than lotions targeting men.

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs found that the largest 'pink tax' price discrepancy was found among haircare products. Female consumers paid a whopping 48 percent more for items like shampoo and conditioner than their male counterparts.

The 'pink tax' might not always apply when comparing different brands, but often enough a woman will be charged more money for something as silly as the scent of daisies in deodorant.

On average, women pay 8% more for adult clothing than men. Old Navy, for example, came under fire for charging higher prices for women’s plus-sized apparel than for men's in the same category.

The "pink tax" doesn't only apply to adult women. Girls are facing the discriminatory tax when it comes to toys, especially if it comes in pink.

Toys cost around 11 percent more for girls than boys, according to New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Experts suggest buying gender-neutral toys to fight the price gap: "If I take my daughter to buy a bike helmet and the pink helmet with unicorns is $5 more, I'm going to talk to her about how our family values are to buy the black helmet, and we can decorate it ourselves with glitter and stickers," Christine Whelan, consumer science professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, told VOX.

Children’s toys aren’t the only items affected by the ‘pink tax.’ Clothing also faces a gender gap as girl’s clothes cost more 26 percent of the time, according to the NYC’s Department of Consumer Affairs study.