Publicação
Inequality in Pink: Can Public Policies Tackle Gender-based Price Discrimination? The California and New York City Cases
| Resumo: | Gender equality is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) among seventeen SDGs set by the United Nations Agenda 2030. Gender discrimination, one of the hindrances to achieving gender equality, harms women and men differently, even though women are usually the most affected. Gender-based price discrimination, or simply pink taxes, is a topic that's still little talked about but has been gaining more attention across the world. Pink taxes are the women's tendency to disburse more money to access services and goods. This phenomenon juxtaposes the gender wage gap, for example, forming a combo of financial-economic disadvantages for women. The existing literature on the pink tax allows us to correlate gender pricing with gender stereotypes and gender biases disseminated in society and media. Since the 1990s, the United States has emerged as the first country to debate the pink tax and include the issue on the political agenda, culminating in three pertinent legislation: California in 1995, New York City in 1998, and the state of New York in 2020. This study explores gender pricing twofold: firstly, through a brief empirical examination in three countries, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States, also used to justify the relevance of the theme to academia and society; and secondly, undertaking a thorough analysis of California and New York City cases, whose laws addressing the pink tax in services date from the 1990s. The selection of these cases enabled a comparative study across time, contrasting data from the 1990s and nowadays. The comparison aims to conclude the efficacy of public policies in tackling gender-based price discrimination. The methodology is anchored in a mixed approach, resorting to documentary sources and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The study findings showed promising, proving that applied legislation to combat pink taxes is effective both in California and New York City. Interviews with political figures engaged in the legislation process demonstrated that the interviewees are aware of the actual outcomes of the laws, although with a more pessimistic view. Lack of human and financial resources hamper the appropriate enforcement efforts of the legislation, resulting in slow-paced progress. This little progress is apparent compared to states missing lawmaking for pink taxes. Statistical tests revealed no differences in the prices of men's and women's haircuts in California and New York City, something that was not observed in the other 47 states in the continental United States, which do not have a pink tax law. |
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| Autores principais: | Aguiar, Pâmela Mossmann de |
| Assunto: | Gender-based price discrimination Pink Tax Gender inequality Public policies California New York City Discriminação de preços baseada no género Taxa Rosa Desigualdade de género Políticas públicas Califórnia Cidade de Nova Iorque |
| Ano: | 2024 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório Institucional da UNL |
| Resumo: | Gender equality is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) among seventeen SDGs set by the United Nations Agenda 2030. Gender discrimination, one of the hindrances to achieving gender equality, harms women and men differently, even though women are usually the most affected. Gender-based price discrimination, or simply pink taxes, is a topic that's still little talked about but has been gaining more attention across the world. Pink taxes are the women's tendency to disburse more money to access services and goods. This phenomenon juxtaposes the gender wage gap, for example, forming a combo of financial-economic disadvantages for women. The existing literature on the pink tax allows us to correlate gender pricing with gender stereotypes and gender biases disseminated in society and media. Since the 1990s, the United States has emerged as the first country to debate the pink tax and include the issue on the political agenda, culminating in three pertinent legislation: California in 1995, New York City in 1998, and the state of New York in 2020. This study explores gender pricing twofold: firstly, through a brief empirical examination in three countries, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States, also used to justify the relevance of the theme to academia and society; and secondly, undertaking a thorough analysis of California and New York City cases, whose laws addressing the pink tax in services date from the 1990s. The selection of these cases enabled a comparative study across time, contrasting data from the 1990s and nowadays. The comparison aims to conclude the efficacy of public policies in tackling gender-based price discrimination. The methodology is anchored in a mixed approach, resorting to documentary sources and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The study findings showed promising, proving that applied legislation to combat pink taxes is effective both in California and New York City. Interviews with political figures engaged in the legislation process demonstrated that the interviewees are aware of the actual outcomes of the laws, although with a more pessimistic view. Lack of human and financial resources hamper the appropriate enforcement efforts of the legislation, resulting in slow-paced progress. This little progress is apparent compared to states missing lawmaking for pink taxes. Statistical tests revealed no differences in the prices of men's and women's haircuts in California and New York City, something that was not observed in the other 47 states in the continental United States, which do not have a pink tax law. |
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