The Pink Tax

ABSTRACT:Gender issues prevail today in everyone’s daily life. Both males and females face some sort of gender discrimination often, through media, communication, and education. However, existing stereotypes have created a huge gender gap where females generally receive less support than males academically, financially, and even physically. As a result, there exist many factors that might influence gender-related matters. This paper focuses on a fundamental concept which plays a prominent role in relation to women’s independence on both the economic and health-related levels. The Pink tax concept is an additional fee that females are obliged to pay every day as consumers for goods and services that are comparable to similar or identical products for males. The aim of this paper is to explore ways in which the effects of Pink taxation on the societal, economic, and legal levels can be mitigated and alleviated. To achieve this goal, research and interviews were conducted for the purpose of exploring the level of awareness around the concept of the Pink tax among students at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. Findings suggested that awareness levels tend to lean towards the lower end of the spectrum among both sexes, denoting the dire need for educational and regulatory measures to be taken. As such, recommendations should highlight the importance of stipulating new governmental laws and regulations and amending existing ones, in addition to spreading awareness through gender-focused education with the support of non-governmental organizations.

Keywords–gender discrimination, Pink tax, stereotypes.