• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
MPWequality

Women Pay More for Everything From Birth to Death, Report Finds

By
Charlotte Alter
Charlotte Alter
and
TIME
TIME
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Charlotte Alter
Charlotte Alter
and
TIME
TIME
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 23, 2015, 1:16 PM ET
General Economy And Retail As Polish Cabinet Under Pressure To Quit
Shoppers pass the window display of a Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. fashion store at the Stary Browar shopping mall in Poznan, Poland, on Thursday, June 11, 2015. Poland's ruling party rejected calls to relinquish power before fall elections as Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz sought to stem a decline in public support by shuffling her cabinet. Photographer: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Bartek Sadowski — Bloomberg via Getty Images

Women’s products cost more than men’s products across dozens of categories, affecting the cost of everything from toys to clothes to canes, a new report found.

In a study titled “From Cradle to Cane: The Cost of Being a Female Consumer,” New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs tracked price discrepancies in otherwise identical products that were marketed to male and female consumers. After analyzing the prices of almost 800 products across 35 categories, researchers found that the so-called “pink tax” doesn’t just apply to shampoo and razors—women pay more for almost ever product over the course of their lives, from baby clothes to home health care items.

The study uncovered numerous examples of products that were similar but cost significantly more when marketed to women. Baby clothes for girls cost more than those for boys (shirts for girls can cost 13% more), and toys marketed to girls cost 11% more than those for boys, even if they were the exact same toys in different colors. That price difference carries over into adulthood, where women’s shirts cost 15% more than men’s shirts, and women shampoo products cost a whopping 48% more than products marketed to men. In fact, personal care products are so overpriced for women that female customers pay more 56% of the time, even when the ingredients are comparable.

Even in old age, women get a bad deal. Supports and braces for women cost 15% more than those for men, canes cost 12% more, and personal urinals are 21% more expensive for female senior citizens. Even adult diapers are more expensive. The study found that when averaged across a lifetime, women are paying 7% more than men for comparable products.

While New York City has laws against gender-based price hikes on services (like dry cleaners and hair salons), it appears there is little the city can do to alter the pricing of goods, which are largely determined outside the city’s jurisdiction. The report calls for social media action to raise awareness about the issue.

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

About the Authors
By Charlotte Alter
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By TIME
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Workplace CultureSports
Exclusive: Billionaire Michele Kang launches $25 million U.S. Soccer institute that promises to transform the future of women’s sports
By Emma HinchliffeDecember 2, 2025
6 hours ago
C-SuiteLeadership Next
Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman says she has the best job ever: ‘My job is to help make people feel really good about themselves’
By Fortune EditorsNovember 5, 2025
27 days ago
ConferencesMPW Summit
Executives at DoorDash, Airbnb, Sephora and ServiceNow agree: leaders need to be agile—and be a ‘swan’ on the pond
By Preston ForeOctober 21, 2025
1 month ago
Jessica Wu, co-founder and CEO of Sola, at Fortune MPW 2025
MPW
Experts say the high failure rate in AI adoption isn’t a bug, but a feature: ‘Has anybody ever started to ride a bike on the first try?’
By Dave SmithOctober 21, 2025
1 month ago
Jamie Dimon with his hand up at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit
SuccessProductivity
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says if you check your email in meetings, he’ll tell you to close it: ’it’s disrespectful’
By Preston ForeOctober 17, 2025
2 months ago
Pam Catlett
ConferencesMPW Summit
This exec says resisting FOMO is a major challenge in the AI age: ‘Stay focused on the human being’
By Preston ForeOctober 16, 2025
2 months ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Ford workers told their CEO 'none of the young people want to work here.' So Jim Farley took a page out of the founder's playbook
By Sasha RogelbergNovember 28, 2025
4 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Warren Buffett used to give his family $10,000 each at Christmas—but when he saw how fast they were spending it, he started buying them shares instead
By Eleanor PringleDecember 2, 2025
14 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Forget the four-day workweek, Elon Musk predicts you won't have to work at all in ‘less than 20 years'
By Jessica CoacciDecember 1, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Elon Musk says he warned Trump against tariffs, which U.S. manufacturers blame for a turn to more offshoring and diminishing American factory jobs
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 2, 2025
8 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Innovation
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 1, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of December 1, 2025
By Danny BakstDecember 1, 2025
1 day ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.