Today, I went to order a personal item for my daughter that is available for both boys and girls. Let me be clear - it's the EXACT. SAME. ITEM. The girls have unicorns and the boys have turtles or something that "boys like" on them. Why we can't just have yellow sunshines on these things that are a single-use item and call it a day, I don't know but imagine my shock and surprise when I went to buy her a package and the boys' item for the same amount was $4-10 less depending on where I shopped.

Yeah, you saw that right. The girls items were MORE EXPENSIVE! And, this isn't a once-in-a-lifetime sighting of women being discriminated against in the retail world because they have the sheer good fortune to be a woman. Nope, it happens everywhere, all the time. It's called The Pink Tax. It's ridiculous and frankly should be illegal.

The pink tax has gotten so out of hand that legislators are actually considering putting laws in to place to keep retailers from charging women more! According to the Huffington Post a bill in NY, "would ban businesses from pricing products that share at least 90 percent of their ingredients differently based on the gender they are manufactured or marketed for. That is, it would prohibit them from charging women more for products like razors and shampoo, just because they’re considered women’s products."

Getting a little huffy yet? Oh girl...

A website called Ax the Pink Tax actually has a calculator that lets you add up how much the pink tax has cost you throughout your life. I'm 37 so... put the birthday in there... and... In your lifetime, the Pink Tax has cost you $50,655! I don't know about you but I could have used that $50K. 

Don't believe me... let's just take a look at the Target website.

Cute bibs, huh? Guess what... princess are about $2.70 more than superheros.

TARGET
TARGET
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One could argue that DC charges less for licensing but how about this cute Mickey bowl. Oh, want it in PINK? Yeah, that'll be an extra four bucks.

TARGET
TARGET
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How about some razors. Gillette makes Venus and Mach 3 which seems comparable. Well, the women's is double the price.

TARGET
TARGET
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But, wait. Maybe the Mach 3 wasn't as phenomenal as the Venus. How about an 8 count of the 5? Still a dollar less.

TARGET
TARGET
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Finally, if you have a child with a vagina, you'll be paying a cool $3 more for these cute diapers!

TARGET
TARGET
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Guess how long it took me to find these items? About ten minutes. EVERYTHING I searched was more expensive for women. And not just a couple cents - DOLLARS! I mean, can anyone tell me there is a $4.06 difference between a pink and blue Mickey Mouse dish? And, there are people who say - just get the cheaper option. But guess what, we shouldn't have to. We shouldn't pay more because we like to be girly.

And to be fair, it's not just Target. It's Walmart. It's Amazon. It's all major retailers and it comes down from the manufacturers that set the price point.

So, what can we do? I contacted both Target and Procter & Gamble. (Waiting for a response.) I tweeted these photos using #axthepinktax. I am bringing awareness to this problem. It's apparently such a big problem that the government has to get involved - let your state legislators know that this isn't okay. We all need to get on board with Axing this unfair and superbly uncool pink tax. Visit Ax the Pink Tax to take more action today.

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