Gender Pricing: Women Often Pay More Than Men [Infographic]

Even though I’m a woman, I’ve never been one to carry the feminist flag. Since I’ve been an entrepreneur for so many years, I haven’t had to deal with a lot of the office politics that many women talk about having to handle. I love being a woman, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. However, that doesn’t mean I’m so naive to think that women live the same lives as men. For example, have you ever stopped to think about the fact that women pay more for things than men?

There was an article earlier this year in Marie Claire magazine called Why Women Pay More. It talked about how women pay more for dry cleaning, clothes, haircuts, shampoo, and many other every day things. I’m not even talking about things that women buy that most men don’t, like manicures, pedicures and eyebrow waxing. I’m just talking about things that men and women both purchase.

An insightful article on U.S. News and Money calls these expenses “the hidden costs of being a woman.” According to a new study by the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), women pay more when using credit cards too. For the first time though, the credit card companies aren’t to blame for this. The reason women pay more is because they often times have lower financial literacy (when compared to men), which leads to poor decision making when it comes to credit card use. As a result, women are more likely to carry a credit card balance, only make the minimum payment, pay a late fee and pay an over-the-limit fee.

This study was put together after 28,000 people in the United States were surveyed about their credit card habits. Obviously as a gender, we have a lot more to learn about fiscal responsibility. You can read the details about this survey here on the FINRA website. Recently Credit Sesame took all of the data from this study and compiled it into this infographic called Do Women Pay More When Using Credit Cards? which explains it all very easily. As this says, one bright spot is that women are 20% less likely to take a cash advance than men. As a woman, what do you buy which you know you pay more for than men? Cologne might be another one to put on this list, although cologne for men is expensive too. Maybe it’s priced high for men also because brands know that women often times buy the cologne for men. Hmm…