French women now targeted with the Pink Tax

The French Socialist government is investigating the claims that women are being charged more than men for a range of products and services including, razors, haircuts and dry cleaning.

The move was triggered by an online petition posted by a women’s rights group that claimed women were being systematically targeted by a hidden “pink” – or “woman” – tax.

The group is known as Georgette Sand a play on 19th century French author George Sand, who famously used a male pen name in order to sell her novels.

Taking snapshots of products marketed for men and women, the group singled out Monoprix, a supermarket whose name translates as “one price”, as a particular offender.

Half the amount of razors and more expensive.

In one case, Georgette Sand said women paid an extra eight euro cents for a packet of Monoprix’s standard razors, and got half as many razors as men.

Women, it said, are also being charged more than men for identical services at dry-cleaners and hairdressers.

While some differences in price may appear minimal, the group argued, they add up to an “unjustifiable injustice”.

France’s Finance Ministry has vowed to take action should its inquiry reveal a practice of unfair pricing.

In the meantime, women have had to swallow another bitter pill.

As Georgette Sand pointed out, until 2012 female drivers in Europe enjoyed cheaper car insurance policies on the grounds that they accounted for a fraction of road accidents.

But the European Union has since ruled that this discriminated against men.

I don’t think we have heard the last of this particular battle!