New York – The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced on Sunday a proposal to prohibit that products aimed at women have higher prices than similar ones designed for men.
The intention of Cuomo is to end the so-called “pink tax”, a phenomenon documented in numerous studies according to which many items and services promoted towards females are more expensive than others equal for men.
“It is discriminatory and disgusting to our values and we will put an end to it,” the governor said in a statement.
Its proposal is included in a package of measures for 2020 and includes legislation that would prohibit price discrimination by gender and that would require certain businesses to publish price lists of their services, under penalty of fines.
In a report prepared in 2015, the New York City Council analyzed the prices of toys, clothing, cosmetic and hygiene products and confirmed that in 42 percent of cases, those directed at women were more expensive.
According to the data collected, items for women cost an average of 7 percent more than similar items for men, with the biggest difference (13 percent) in personal care products.
Thus, the New York governor emphasizes that throughout their life, a woman will have to pay thousands of dollars more than a man for similar products, which ends up affecting her disposable income and her savings.
To this is added, he recalled, the problem of the wage gap, whereby women traditionally enter less than their male partners for similar jobs.
“For too long women and girls have faced social and economic discrimination in all aspects of their lives, but in New York we are leading the fight for a real gender match,” Cuomo said.
