They call it “Man Tax”, and since the New York pharmacy announced its new store policy, it has obviously received serious backlash.

Promoted in the window of the Thompson Chemist in the Soho district of New York, the “all male customers are subject to a 7% Man Tax” sign was alongside another that announced, “all female customers shop tax free”.

The store’s policy has sparked a considerable debate after the image below was posted to Imgur, and subsequently shared on Facebook and Reddit, all platforms where comments fly freely.

So why did the pharmacy make that move?

Well, according to BBC, an employee of Thompson Chemists confirmed that the new policy was to “highlight the instances of gender pricing discrepancy.” BBC continues:

It follows a study conducted by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs which found that on average “women’s products cost 7% more than similar products for men.” The gender price gap was even greater when it came to adult clothes and personal care products.

The pharmacy’s owner Jolie Alony told the Gothamist website that the man tax was a way of drawing attention to that.

“We want to bring awareness on how it feels to be a woman, so the men actually get to feel it,” she said.

Call it sexist if you will, but when the time comes for women’s razors to be sold without an added premium just for being pink, then we can talk about equality.

The store owner explained that:

Men aren’t being made to pay an additional 7% on products, rather that women are in effect going to receive a discount. New York has a 4.5% local sales tax which isn’t levied on medicines, spectacles and other medical equipment. So the ‘man tax’ is essentially a promotion that favours female customers.

And there you have it.

[source:bbc]