As a woman, there are many things that we expect to have to deal with that men do not, for example, purchasing items such as tampons, bras or even hair care products, just to name a few. One of the things that's not as widely expected, though, is all the extra money we'll have to pay for the same quality items a man is getting. This is most commonly known as the pink tax. It's known as such because more often than not, the objects that women end up buying are colored pink. And it's silly to think that the pink paint on women's products are so much more pricey than the blue or the gray on the men's products. So on average, a woman actually spends upwards of 1000$ more than men on similar products. That's not even including tampons or conditioner, which, let's be honest, men do not use on whole. That, of course, excludes anomalies such as transgender men or men who take an inordinate amount of pride in their hair. If I included that, the number would be astronomical. These products, though, they're widening range. For example, razors usually have a two-dollar difference between women's and men's. But even that small difference means that in the course of one's lifetime, if, say, a man and a woman have both bought four pack of razors from CVS every month their whole life, they would have such different prices, the men would end up spending 3952$ in his lifetime and the women would spend 5536. This is a difference of almost 2000 dollars just on razors alone. It's crazy to think that. And actually one of the worst offenders, though, it's the odour. A two-pack of degree for men is priced 399, whereas the women's version was 799. This, it could be understandable if there were varying quality, say the women had a longer hold or sweat balancing, but actually they claim to do the same thing with the same ingredients. Even clothing brands got in on the fun when it was found out that Old Navy was overpriced and women's plus sized products, jeans were 12 to 15 more than the standard size ones. But there is no such difference in the prices between men's plus and regular size jeans. 

Some states, though, have taken the initiative to stop this injustice and fix some of the gaps that women face on a day-to-day basis, making it harder to survive than men. Women are already getting paid less for the same amount of work in the system known as the wage gap, which is also a problem that needs to be fixed in our country. But with having to pay more for necessary products and getting paid less, it makes it even more difficult. Luckily, though, Pennsylvania is one of the states that has one of these initiatives and so is California. In California, actually they have laws in their civil code that deal with personal rights on the problem. It states that no business or establishment of any kind whatsoever may discriminate with respect to the price charge for similar services or like kind against the person because of that person's gender. Well, this is a great advancement is only half a win, really, since this amendment has another one right below it and it states nothing in Subdivision B, the previous quote. Prohibits price differences based specifically upon the amount of time, difficulty or cost of providing these services. This gives companies a really horrible loophole and it still needs to be handled because they can't overcharge someone just because it's pink and claim that the pink thing cost more when it really doesn't or that they needed so much more to produce it. To correct this wrong, there needs to be nationwide laws that prevent discrimination based on gender. In the United States has always had problems with equality and discrimination. This was seen in the civil rights movement, the Japanese internment camps, the gay rights struggles and the current immigration struggles that we are seeing in our nation. Women have always been one of the last to receive their fair share of everything, including the right to vote, the right to own land, the right to participate in the government and many other rights that are sti ll being dealt with. It is time, though, that women take charge and make sure that we are no longer cheated out of anything.