Shopping Woes

There are many cases of the prices of women’s products being raised despite doing the same thing as a product advertised to men. An infamous example is “Bic for Her,” released in 2012 by the pen company Bic. Other than coming in pastel colors and being marked “for Her” on the packaging, they did the same thing any other Bic pen did, however, they cost up to 70% more than the usual pen. 

“That’s absolutely ridiculous to me,” Mr. Doyle, the principal of safety, said. “I, personally, sign a lot of things. I love using different colors. I grab whatever pen’s on my desk. A pen color isn’t labeling of who I am or what my beliefs are or anything like that. And to me, it’s absurd to try to label any person based on that type of ridiculous stuff.”

In Mr. Doyle’s large family, they have a gift exchange every year. However, not everyone gets what they might be wishing for. 

“Sometimes we get family from out of town that doesn’t know the cousins very well. And so, rather than reaching out and trying to learn about them, they kind of… stereotype a bit and get stuff that a stereotypical male or female would prefer,” said Doyle. 

He stated that it’s understandable for businesses to market towards a specific gender that may be the dominant one using a product.

 “I completely understand from the business side of things… I don’t know if I see too much wrong with it at this point. But I do understand. We need to make sure that all of these things are open to everybody, no matter what.”

Student Xavier Robbins would agree. “If it’s more of a manly thing to do or more womanly thing, it’s okay, but if it’s for both parties, it should be for both female and male. Some examples he gave are “oil and stuff, like oil rigs, especially men do those jobs… and I feel like daycares are more for women because they know how to take care of children better than men do.”

He believes if it costs more money to make a product, then the price should be raised, but “if it’s a Barbie doll or something meant for a girl, I feel like it should be the same [price] if a boy wants it, or if it’s a dude version of it.”

Not all companies see it this way, however, and even mark up the prices for products that may be geared toward the other gender.