The ACLU-CT believes that all people should have equal access to goods and services, free from sex and gender-based discrimination. Not only do women face unfair employment practices that result in a gender pay gap, but women also encounter gender-based discrimination when it comes to their experience as consumers. This nefarious form of discrimination, also called the “pink tax,” results in women being charged more for both consumer goods and services.
Although manufacturers and retailers have claimed that this price differential results from higher costs for producing women’s products, there is significant evidence that products are practically identical. Products impacted by the pink tax include basic necessities. For example, Consumer Reports compared the pricing of common drugstore products like shaving cream, deodorant, and body wash, and found that “products directed at women—through packaging, description or name—might cost up to 50 percent more than similar products for men.”
Senate Bill 189 is an excellent step forward in combatting the discrimination that women face as consumers in Connecticut.
