Whenever I think about shopping, I rarely ever think about the tax that will be added to the final ticket price. My main concern is finding all of the items that are on my shopping list.

Since I am a female, most items I get are for personal care such as razors, face masks and tampons. These items, however, come with a separate sales tax of their own.

The “pink tax” is a phenomenon that occurs only on products that are geared towards women. A study done by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs found that 7 percent of all women’s products are priced higher than the comparable men’s version.

It is crazy to think that women’s products are priced higher just because they are geared toward a certain gender. This type of gender inequality is flat out wrong considering many of the products do the exact same thing no matter which gender it is intended to be used by.

Although the “pink tax” has been around for awhile, many women are just now finding out about it. The issue needs to be addressed publicly so that changes can be made.

One French Group, called the Georgette Sand, took action against this type of tax and received over 44,000 signatures on their petition against a French Retailer. Here in the United States, we could follow their example by creating a petition of our own.

Many companies say the price difference is because of the varying production costs. This is hard to believe, however, when some of the major differences between men’s and women’s products are only the color.

According to Groundswell, “women spend an average of $1,351 in extra costs and fees each year.” Although women do like to shop more than most men the extra costs are a bit outrageous.

Not much is being done to fight the pink tax, and many advocates suggest shopping in the men’s section since most of the products are the same anyway.

Although it will take a lot to make a change to the pink tax, every little thing we can do to make a stand matters. Without standing up for what you believe in, a change will never be made.