Over the past couple of years, there has been a spark in the fight to free feminine products from the phenomenon known as the “pink tax.” The “pink tax” is a term coined by ___ to describe the way that companies charge women more for personal care products that are identical to products for men, such as razors, but often placed in fancier packaging.
The pink tax is real. It is everywhere. And it’s absurd. In 1994, the State of California ran their own gender pricing study and found women paid about $1,351 more per year than men on goods and services. That’s about $2,188 in today’s money and you can see how that adds up over the course of a lifetime.
Not only does gender-based pricing remains a stubborn issue, but women also have to pay more than men because they have to buy more undergarments as well as personal hygiene products like tampons and pads.
According to Nicole Kaeding who is the director of Federal Projects at the Tax Foundation, where she researches federal and state tax issues, the subject topic of “Pink Tax” includes the argument that feminine products should not be taxed. Living in the state of New Jersey we are 1 out of 14 states that do not apply sales tax to feminine products.
Morgan Papp, a 19-year-old, Mercer Sports Medicine major says, “I don’t like the fact that we have to pay for pads and tampons because only females need them and not males. If there was any way we could fight to not pay for them I’d be all for it, but if I have to settle in paying for them at least just don’t tax them”.
Having to pay taxes for these feminine products to support a natural process our bodies have to deal with, literally adds to women’s stress and can increase the pain that comes with periods. Throughout a woman’s lifetime, we average about 450 periods, about 2,200 days of our lives, and spending 6.25 percent of our lives dealing with it, so making it any more painful or expensive is unfair.
Mercer Fashion Merchandise major Taylor Hawks says “We [women] have no other choice but to deal with mother nature and have no choice but to buy and pay for what we need to control and help our bodies…It’s not fair for girls because we go through something we never asked to go through.”
Women should not be charged for being women. That’s the bottom line.
Dan Schermond, an Assistant professor of Sociology at MCCC tells the VOICE that “we don’t tax food because it’s a necessity, so why should we be taxing things like pads and tampons?”
The only way to get rid of the Pink Tax and all that comes with it is to take matters into our own hands, hold companies and lawmakers accountable.
