What exactly is the Pink Tax? It is a tax that only about half of the population is subjected to. The women pay for being themselves! It is a tax applied on feminine products, specifically tampons, pads and several other personal hygiene products made for women. One of the main key points of pink tax is that companies market products for women by making them smaller and pink to make them look 'feminine'.

Roughly 50% of the population goes through the process of menstruation and make use of tampons and pads for a week every month. This makes these items a necessity for females and still they are heavily taxed in most countries. The reason tampons and pads are charged sales tax is because they are considered 'luxury' items. Surely every woman can agree that periods are no luxury! Another necessity taxed heavy for women is clothing, especially plus-size clothing. Now just because a woman is plumper than the average person doesn't really mean she is liable to pay more for her clothing. Whereas men's normal and plus-size clothing cost the same!

Self-care products for women are taxed more than men. Deodorants, face cleansers, razors, medicines and several other things have more tax for the females. Deodorants are made with the exact same formulas and ingredients be it for men or women, and yet they are taxed a certain amount more for women than men. Face cleansers are made with the same formula and yet women are charged higher for it than men, maybe only because of the packaging. Painkillers sold in pharmacies for menstrual pain are more expensive because of higher the tax. Pink razors, specifically made for women are more expensive than the blue ones made for men, but what is the difference between them? Are they manufactured differently? No. They are the exact same structures and materials and work the exact same way. All that is done is that the colour is changed to pink for women.

This tells us how difficult, or rather, expensive it is to be a woman. It has been a proven fact that women earn less than men and have to pay more, thanks to the pink tax. It is certainly unfair considering that women live longer than men. Men are considered to have a shorter life due to their various habits. So, if a woman lives longer, she obviously needs more money to survive throughout, which they don't get. Another disturbing fact is that half of the women in the world go on to pay the pink tax and are unaware of its existence!

What can we really do to get rid of this Pink Tax? Start buying men's razors all of you women, you're not supposed to pay more for the same item in a different color! Buy that men's deodorant you see on the shelf, you don't need to pay more for a prettier packaging!

Axe the Pink Tax.