NEW YORK -- A study released in December by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs showed that women may be paying more than men for virtually the same product. The report, "From Cradle to Cane: The Cost of Being a Female Consumer," compared nearly 800 items with clear male and female versions, and on average, the women's versions of a product cost seven percent more than the ones for men.
But price discrimination is not limited to retail, found CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller. CBS News went undercover with two producers, one female and one male, who visited a handful of dry cleaners in New York City.
The producers purchased “nearly-identical, 100 percent cotton button down shirts in comparable sizes and requested the same service.”
CBS News founds that the female producer was charged at least twice as much in more than half the businesses visited. In one, she was charged $7.50 while her male counterpart just $2.85. At another, she paid $3 dollars more, according to the reportpublished here.
PHOTO: Screengrab from CBS News report
The New York study found there were differences when it came to children’s and adult clothing, personal care products, home health care products and toys and accessories.
The highest difference (13 percent) was in the personal care products industry, while the lowest difference (4 percent) was in the children’s clothing industry.
A disparity frequency chart shows women pay more 42 percent of the time, while men pay more only 18 percent of the time. Forty-percent of the time the pricing is equal.
PHOTO: Screengrab from CBS News report
The study included 35 product categories, and female consumers paid more in 30 of those categories.
Gender price gouging for services is illegal in New York, Miami-Dade County and California, but there is no federal law, according to the CBS report.
California outlawed it in 1996 after a statewide study found a "gender tax" cost each woman approximately $1,351 more annually.
But there are no laws aimed at preventing it in retail.
"One of the reasons that we can't legislate in products is because it's about the market and there is a long supply chain and we don't really know who is responsible for it," trade lawyer Michael Cone said.
Cone said part of the problem is the extra costs for women's products tacked on from the get-go. He found that women's clothing, shoes and gloves often enter the country with a higher import tax than men's. For example, men's sneakers were taxed at 8.5 percent while women's shoes at 10 percent.
"It might be 5 dollars that you pay that's extra to Uncle Sam, but by the time it hits the retail consumer, it can be 10, 12, 13 dollars," Cone said.
Cone found it dates back to at least the mid-1800s when women's hats and gloves were taxed higher. He said ultimately it will be consumers who hold the key to reform.
"It has to be a market response, a written campaign, vote with your purse and your pen -- that's what's going to change it," he said.
Read the full report on CBS news.
There are some examples where women pay less than men. Men pay an estimated $15,000 more over their lifetime than women for car insurance, according to CoverHound.com. According to a study from Swapalease.com, men also pay more than women on popular car leases.
