Last week I shared an article on the “grooming gap” for women: WHAT “LOOKING THE PART” COSTS WOMEN.
“The grooming gap refers to the set of social norms regarding grooming and appearance for women, including the time women workers must spend to conform to these norms and the material consequences it has on their lives.”
I have really been thinking about this over the last week, and it reminded me of a great TEDx talk by Dr. Felicia Clark, called “The Pink Tax and the BS in Beauty Standards”:
Dr. Clark highlights not only that Beauty Standards are different for men than for women, but also that the cost of purchasing the very same items is higher for women than for men. She shares an example where the same shirt, jeans, and razor of the same brand and from the same store are almost twice as expensive for women as they are for men. She calls this the PINK Tax. She estimates that this is costing the average woman $1000 per year more than men.
Add the pink tax to the grooming gap discussed in the first article, and we have a recipe for greatly diminishing the economic well-being of women.
Dr. Clark goes on to say that women are complicit in all of this and do not have to buy in to any of the “B.S. in Beauty Standards.” There are things we can do to push back on the grooming gap and the pink tax, mainly by focusing on our passion and other gifts.
I highly recommend this talk to you. It is humorous, makes a good point, and more importantly tells us what we can do about it.
And if you need help discovering your passion and gifts, check out www.bookofyou.com for information or ways to get a book.
You can also reach out directly to me at sarah@bookofyou.com