Bad news for the female shoppers of the world: According to a new report released by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, when women are buying, they are paying more. Over a comparison of 800 items with clear female and male versions, the girly version cost 7 percent more on average.
And the problem goes far beyond retail goods. Services show the same slanted pricing, as demonstrated to CBS employees who went undercover in search of dry cleaning learned.
The producers purchased “nearly-identical, 100 percent cotton button down shirts in comparable sizes and requested the same service.”
Women were charged at least twice the price more than half the time.
In retail, the biggest areas of difference were in personal care items, the smallest difference (4 percent) was in children’s clothing (which is notably mostly purchased by women). On the whole, women outpay men 42 percent of the time, and men pay more 18 percent of the time. About 40 percent of the time, pricing equality is achieved.
Reversals of that trend appear in car insurance, since men perform worse on actuarial tables, and car leases (same reason).
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There is no federal law banning gender differentiation in pricing, though states like New York, California and Florida have laws against price gouging that includes gender discrimination.
