The Cost of Gender: A Product’s Price is Dependent on Who it’s Advertised for

Skylar Bowman, Staff Writer

Men’s razors seem to work better and cost less. Men’s antiperspirants seem to work better and cost less. That’s something myself and many of my female friends have noticed. Why is that? What’s the actual difference in men’s and women’s products? In fact, are there any?

You may or may not have noticed that some men’s products are more effective at their jobs than women’s. For instance, and in my own personal opinion, men’s razors provide a smoother shave and their antiperspirants last considerably longer, all while at a cheaper price. But why is this? What’s the difference between the products, and what makes one better?

Well, first off, razors for men and women are designed to do different things. Men’s razors are meant for shaving a face and therefore the blades are closer together and produce a closer shave, while women’s razors are designed for the more difficult task of shaving one’s legs or armpits, resulting in a razor that limits nicks and has a wider surface. However, the blades used in the product are the same and that elicits the question- why are women’s razors more expensive?

The main difference in deodorants, however, is scent, but their pricing also brings up questions. Many deodorant brands, such as Speed Stick, have male and female deodorant options. One look at the ingredients list will tell you that the product’s ingredients are generally the same, minus fragrance, but the men’s version has .4% more aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly, a common antiperspirant, possibly accounting for its apparent superior longevity. On top of this, the women’s deodorant is two dollars more expensive, at $6.89.

In fact, most women’s products are more expensive. Shampoos, conditioners, hair brushes, face washes, and many other products all tend to cost more for women. The cause of this unfair pricing may not relate back to packaging or product, but rather may lie in the fact that producers know who they’re selling to, and, frankly, women are willing to pay more for hygienic products.

On a general level, women pay more attention to beauty products than men and use a greater number of them. There’s a societal pressure for women to smell nice, have shiny soft hair, and always have hair free legs and armpits, which leads to women feeling like they have to buy a multitude of products in order to fit these regiments.

So if women are willing to pay higher prices for beauty products and pretty packaging, why wouldn’t companies charge women more for their products? While it may be a smart business move, it is the definition of sexist. Not all women care about beauty products, and not all women are willing to pay more, but unless they’re comfortable with smelling like the societally assigned scent of a man, women will keep paying more because they have no other choice or option, and that is simply wrong.

But on top of everything lies the question of why we gender products in the first place. While men and women generally look for different things in their beauty products, they don’t when it comes to everyday products such as tissues and pens. So why would we ever feel the need to gender them?

In fact, Kleenex has released bigger sized tissues and labeled them “mansized” with masculine packaging, while other companies, such as Bic, released women’s pens that have a slimmer design and consist of pastel colors, because apparently women can’t hold regular pens with our smaller hands and the colors black and blue are just too boring for us. And for the record, why can’t men use slim pens that are pastel colors? Why must product labels seclude products to a single gender when it should be normal for anyone to use them?

Gendering everyday products reinforces the idea that men and women have specific boxes to fit into, and that your gender decides what styles you should like. Gendered product scents encourage the concept that men are supposed to smell one way and women another, while the same occurs with product color and image. Women’s products are often sleek and lightly colored with a luxurious look, while men’s harbor simpler styles showcasing darker colors, therefore influencing the public’s idea of what it means to be feminine or manly.

But maybe products should start advertising what they ARE instead of what gender they’re supposed to fit into, and maybe people should stop caring what products advertise. In a world like that, men could buy slim pens labeled “slim” and not “for women”, and women could walk around smelling like spruce and not only feel confident, but definitely save some money while they’re at it.