For many tough-up women,there are larger concerns than the cost of razorsFirst the “tampon tax”; now the “pink premium” : a Times investigation final week claimed to possess analysed the prices of hundreds of products to find women pay on average 37% more for goods marketed at them than men pay for their equivalents. Cue female columnists telling us we should be outraged at a capitalist system that makes women pay more and the chair of the women and equalities select committee threatening to call companies to parliament to explain their discriminatory behaviour.
Far from leaving me outraged, this over-reaction to a piece of rapid/fast and dirty consumer journalism has left me feeling distinctly uncomfortable. It’s easy to pick out sensational comparisons: the pink razors retailing for twice the price of almost identical blue ones at Tesco. But there are questions approximately the robustness of the investigation: retailers responded by pointing out that some of the comparisons balanced sale-price goods against full-price items, and which hardly seems like for like. Are we really at the point of suggesting retailers can only sell off excess stock at a discount if it’s unisex?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com