Unnecessarily gendered products make us laugh from time to time.
Who could forget the entertaining yet offensive time BIC released special pens just for women?
Jokes aside, it’s incredibly frustrating that manufactures often gender products and charge women more.
Last year, The Guardian revealed that women can expect to pay up to 37% more for gender targeted items. Some of the worst offenders were hygiene products, and one of the most frustrating has to be razors.
Tesco charged £1 for a pack of five women’s twin-blade razors while a packet of five razors for men cost half of that at 50p.
Now in a letter shared with The Guardian, Tesco’s commercial director for packaged products, Kari Daniels has written that the chain has reviewed the sale of gendered products. Daniels explained that the disparity comes from demand.
“In the instance of our twin-blade razors, the difference is driven by the fact that male razors are produced and sold in significantly higher volumes, which reduces the price we pay for them.”
But in an effort to continue “consistently low, simple and affordable pricing,” Daniels writes that the retailer has reduced the price of female razor blades.
“We have aligned the prices of these products so that the male and female razors are the same price per unit. We have done this by reducing the cost of the women’s razors and keeping the cost of the men’s razors the same,” he writes.
Last year, a Change.org petition was set up to encourage Boots to revise their gendered prices.
The petition revealed that Boots eye cream was £9.99 for women and £7.29 for men, while razors were priced at £2.29 for eight women’s razors and £1.49 for a pack of 10 for men. The petition, which attracted 41,790 signatures, urged the chief executive, Simon Roberts, to review the apparent disparity in pricing.
