Expert: Enforcing CA’s new anti-“Pink Tax” law poses challenges

While gender equality advocates cheer for the end to California’s controversial “Pink Tax,” under which men’s and women’s products are often priced differently, sociology professor–researcher Liz Grauerholz calls new bill AB 1287 “almost impossible” to enforce. Comparing men’s and women’s products may prove tricky — and could be slyly sidestepped by manufacturers. This article was originally published by Forbes.

But the new California bill may be hard to enforce. The law prohibits "charging a different price for any two goods that are substantially similar, if those goods are priced differently based on the gender of the individuals for whom the goods are marketed and intended." To qualify, two goods must have the same intended use, have no substantial differences in production materials, have similar designs and features, and have the same brand or be owned by the same entity.

Liz Grauerholz, a sociology professor at the University of Central Florida who researches the pink tax, says it may be hard to enforce the law because it's often tough to compare women's and men's products directly. "It is almost impossible to make a side-by-side comparison. And I honestly believe that manufacturers have gotten pretty wise to the pink tax, so they make them [men's and women's items] look like completely different products to make those side-by-side comparisons really difficult."

She adds that women's products often have more ingredients and some different ingredients than men's products making comparisons even more difficult. Thus, it’s unlikely that California women will reap big savings as a result of the new law.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Read the whole thing here.

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