Gender Tax Women expect to pay the same prices for goods and services as men

游客2023-12-28  18

问题   Gender Tax
  Women expect to pay the same prices for goods and services as men pay, but even in 2004, they don’t.
  Women frequently pay more — for products marketed specifically to women, or just because women are doing the buying. It’s been estimated that this so-called gender tax or gender-based pricing costs Canadian women billions of dollars a year.
  For example, products scented and packaged specifically for women are often sold in smaller sizes at the same price as comparable products4 aimed at men. Manufacturers argue that since these products are designed specifically for women, they cost more. However, men aren’t asked to pay more for products designed specifically for them.
  As well, services like haircuts and dry cleaning can cost women more. Companies argue it requires more time and labour to cut and style a woman’s longer hair or hand-press a blouse. However, when women with short hair spend the same time in the stylist’s chair as the man next to them and pay more for the privilege, or when women pay more than men at the dry cleaners for machine-pressed tailored shirts, gender discrimination is clear.
  While this type of inequity might not seem as serious as other forms of gender bias, consider that women don’t receive as many dollars as men in the first place. Women working full-time earn about 72% of men’s wages for comparable jobs, a percentage that would be even lower had men’s earnings not declined. For women in the paid labour force, the average annual income from all sources is about 58% of men’s income, and there is an equivalent gap in pension benefits. Women not only have lower earning power, but also spend fewer hours in the workforce than men and more hours doing unpaid work.
  But to receive the same value of goods and services as men, women are told by regulatory agencies to spend more of their time shopping around for fair prices — advice that financial consultant Joanne Thomas Yaccato finds insulting. She urges women not only to refuse to support businesses that discriminate, but to lobby federal and provincial politicians to outlaw gender-based pricing. Political pressure in some US states, such as California, has led to legislation making gender-based pricing illegal. Women in Canada need to work for similar reforms to finally end the "gender tax".

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答案    性别税
   妇女期待在购买商品和接受服务时和男人花同样的钱,但即使到了2004年,这个愿望也未得实现。
   妇女常常比男人付费多,因为产品是专门卖给妇女的,或仅仅因为妇女承担着购买任务。据估计,这种所谓的性别税或按性别定价,每年要让加拿大妇女花掉几十个亿。
   例如,专为妇女设计的带有香味和包装的产品,其体积往往比同类男性用品小,但售价却是一样的。生产商声称,这些产品成本高,因为它们是专为女士设计的。但却没人要男士为他们专门设计的产品多掏腰包。
   此外,诸如理发、干洗这样的服务,妇女的付费也高于男性。理发店和干洗店声辩说,由于妇女的头发长,为她们理发和做发型耗时又费力,而手工熨平妇女的衣服也是如此。但是,当蓄着短发的妇女坐在发型师的椅子里,和她旁边的男子花同样的时间做头发,却要为自己享受的“优待”付出更多时,抑或当妇女在干洗店,和男子同样用机器熨平定制的衬衣,却要付出更多时,这里的性别歧视是显而易见的。
   虽然与其它形式的性别歧视相比,这种不平等似乎还不算严重,但想一想,首先是妇女与男子的收入不平等。一个全职女性的收入,只相当于从事类似工作男性工资的72%。若不是现在男性的收入有所下降的话,这一比例还要低。对工薪阶层的妇女而言,各种渠道的平均年收入总和大约只相当于男性收入的58%,而在各种津贴和补助金方面,也存在着同样的差距。妇女不仅挣钱的能力低,而且用在工作上的时间也比男性少,更多的时间用在了没有任何报酬的工作上。
   但是,为了买到和男性同样价格的商品和得到同样的服务,管理机构常常建议女性:多花一些时间、多逛几个商场,便能买到价格合适的东西——这在金融顾问乔安娜-托马斯-亚卡图看来,完全是一个带有侮辱性的建议。她力主妇女不仅要拒绝支持那些歧视妇女的企业,而且要说服联邦和各省官员宣布按性别定价非法。在美国的一些州,如加利福尼亚,政治压力已迫使立法机构宣布按性别定价为非法。加拿大的妇女需要为类似的改革努力,以最终终结“性别税”。

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