Violence against women is hushed up

Today’s society is filled with violence, malice, and hate but most of that cruelty towards women is kept within the silence. Many females today deal with struggles not experienced by others such as sexual harassment, a gender pay gap, and the hidden “Pink Tax” (Harmon). Due to these non-negotiable facts, it is harder being a female in today’s society.

To start, it is harder being a woman in today’s society because of the Pink tax. The Pink Tax has a deceptive name due to the fact it’s not really a tax at all.

Instead, it refers to the difference in price between gender-appointed merchandise, specifically females. The Pink Tax didn’t just now show up, though. In fact, it was present in the nineteenth century, an age where women took the responsibility of shopping. The tariffs, or taxes, placed on the merchandise increased or decreased depending on the gender the product was intended for.

Unfortunately, females during that time period as well paid more than the opposite sex (Harmon).

Now, jumping into today’s time, the Pink Tax is even showing up in children’s toys. According to Charisse Jones, a writer with USA Today, “A red Radio Flyer scooter sold by Target…cost $24.99, while the pink version, marketed as a girl’s first scooter, had a price tag of $49.99.” This is an ideal example of how something as simple as color can affect the amount of money women today can save.

Due to the type of product and age group, the company knows that they can take advantage of parents and little girls’ obsessions with the color pink or even their fear of looking boyish.

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Young girls do not want to have something that another child may consider masculine, so it isn’t as easy as it is for adults to simply buy the cheaper version. Thus, parents will give in to their child’s desires and buy the item they want no matter the inequality. To show the unfairness in a broad light, a well-known fast-food restaurant, Burger King, conducted their own experiment using their own products. The restaurant simply redecorated the container for the Chicken Fries pink for the females and raised the price for the new Chick Fries(Burger King Corporation). The Burger King Corporation described the customers’ reactions as “unfavorable.

” Even though this was just an experiment, it is closely related to how other items are priced in everyday stores. There, women don’t have a choice to react because chances are the product they are wanting to buy is a necessity. So why are women being forced to shell out extra money just because the item is a certain color? One might object here that women’s products use different materials to make or even extra parts, thus costing more to produce (Harmon). However, there are still some products that cannot be compared to a man’s in terms of ingredients or extra parts that are still categorized under the Pink Tax. Tampons and pads for women have a sales tax on them “that is usually reserved for luxury items” (Harmon). A woman’s monthly cycle is part of her natural life and there is nothing that can be done to stop it, so why are products used to accommodate this part of life marked as an amenity and taxed as one?

Following the Pink Tax, it is harder to be a female in today’s society because of sexual harassment. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “‘sexual harassment’ includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.” A prime example of sexual harassment is harassment in the workplace. Dan K. Wassong was known as the “…chairman, president and chief executive of Del Laboratories…” which was “best known as the manufacture of Sally Hansen nail products…”(Lee). However, for the females who were employed through him, he was nothing more than their harasser and “a boss who walked around with his fly unzipped, solicited sex, and threw telephones and cigars…” (Lee).

The claims these women made against Dan K. Wassong shows just how vulgar and abusive sexual harassment can become, especially in an environment that is supposed to be safe. Unfortunately, these girls aren’t the only ones who have experienced issues like this before. There are multiple cases of sexual harassment towards women in the workplace that people can find just by simply watching the news or doing a quick search on the internet.

However, sexual harassment doesn’t stop there. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also says that sexual harassment “does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general.” This type of sexual harassment is easily found in online gaming. Video games allow males to make “sexist comments” or “rape threats” towards female gamers without going detected(Tang and Fox 513). With no identity, gamers gain a boost of confidence to say things that they usually wouldn’t in person, thus making what is supposed to be a fun environment a hostile one for females. So now, not only can females not work in peace, but they can’t interact with others during co-op gaming.

Still, sexual harassment is found in other areas of a woman’s everyday life such as walking down the street. “Street Harassment Statistics.” states that “Eighty-five percent of women in the United States experience street harassment before the age of 17” and “[m]ore than half changed their clothing, refused a social event, [or] chose a different transportation option…” For females to have to experience this at such a young age or purposely pick another route to work or school just to avoid being harassed is inane when the situation is looked at from afar. When is it reasonable at any point in today’s society should someone have to fear the path they walk so much that they are forced to take a completely different one just because of their gender? The answer is simple. Never. Of course, some may say that their actions are harmless and that they are only handing out innocent flirts, such as catcalling. However, only “[t]hree percent under [the] age of 40 reported finding street harassment flattering” (“Street Harassment Statistics”). Not only that, but, instead of feeling flattered or happy, the harassment can bring about anger, depression, fear, or low self-esteem. (“Street Harassment Statistics”).

In addition to the Pink Tax and sexual harassment, a gender pay gap makes being a woman harder in today’s society. Now, some might object here that there isn’t a pay difference at all, but according to Sonam Sheth, Shayanne Gal, and Syke Gould, authors for Business Insider, “on average, a woman earns 80.5 cents for every dollar a man earns, and women’s median annual earnings are $10,086 less than men’s, according to data from the US Census Bureau.” Even though both males and females are out doing the same jobs, females are paid less, and despite laws to help prevent discrimination against women, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, research like the one conducted by the Business Insider is still showing results of a wide gender pay gap (Sheth et al.). This discrimination in pay is found worst in football as they pay men four times the amount or 83.42%, then they do their female players on average (Onita 45). Some women, though, aren’t putting up with the discrimination, such as Carrie Gracie, an editor for BBC News. Gracie quit her position that she had held for thirty years as a protest to the gender pay gap that she believed was hidden within the company (Haag). Some women don’t realize the gap in their salary compared to male co-workers, so how is it considered fair to cheat them out of money that they earned?

Sexual harassment, gender pay gap, and the “Pink Tax” show exactly what someone is talking about when they say, “you don’t know what it’s like being a woman.” Catcalls and raised prices when the salary is lower to begin with is only a glimpse into the daily life of a female. Everyone knows that life isn’t always fair, but gender inequality is one thing that should never be listed as existent.