Pricing Discrimination By Gender

Price discrimination by gender is persistent and pervasive. Radio Flyer sells a red scooter for boys and a pink scooter for girls.  The only key difference is the price.  The boys' scooter was listed at $24.99 and the girls' scooter was listed for $49.99.  This is not an anomaly.  The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs compared nearly 800 products with female and male versions.  Here are some of the results:

The Raskullz shark helmet for boys at $14.99 and the Raskullz unicorn helmet for girls at $27.99.  Other areas where there was a wide discrepency between the prices of items for men and women was in the hair care category.  Women, on average, paid 49% more for goods like shampoo, conditioner and gel.  Razor cartridges came in second, costing females 11% more.  This is a double whammy for women.  Not only do women pay more for their necessary products, but they make less.  On average, women make 79 cents for every $1.00 made by a man.

If they could, insurance companies would charge women more for insurance, but gender can no longer be a factored into the cost of health insurance.  Since 1998, New York City law has banned gender discrimination in the pricing of services, like hair cuts and dry cleaning.  Even though the law says they must  offer gender neutral rates by labor intensity, the department continues to issue hundresds of violations for gender pricing of services.  Even though there are laws in place to protect women, blatant price disparities persist.  We need to fight back by letting companies know we are aware of their illegal and immoral practices and will not tolerate it.  If enough women complain, maybe these practices will change.