A new California law prohibits businesses from gender-based pricing on products, particularly on items marked for women under the so-called Pink Tax.
On Sept. 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill, which was introduced by Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan to end gender-based pricing, an effort kickstarted by then-Assemblywoman Jackie Speier in 1995.
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“The ‘Pink Tax’ is a gender based penalty that harms women who are already paid less,” Bauer-Kahan said in a statement. “This type of arbitrary gendered pricing has no place in California. It’s long past time to eliminate this type of inequality. I’m grateful Governor Newsom has signed this bill to ensure price equality in California.”
The law aims to ensure women’s products are not sold at a higher price than identical but lower-priced men’s items. Differences could be as slight as color or packaging, particularly with shampoos, shaving razors, and deodorants.
The same day, Newsom also signed a law that requires the disclosure of salary ranges on job listings.
He said in a press release that the measures bring new transparency to tackling pay gaps and discriminatory pricing of products.
“California has the strongest equal pay laws in the nation, but we’re not letting up on our work to ensure all women in our state are paid their due and treated equally in all spheres of life,” Newsom said.
The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, which helped write the “Pink Tax” legislation, wrote a statement praising the governor for signing the laws.
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“Women make up as much as 85% of consumer purchases in the United States and the pink tax represents $1,300 annually that can now be returned to her to fund retirement, home ownership, education, or to recover economically from the pandemic crisis,” said Holly Martinez, executive director of the commission.
