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March 15, 2005
MPP wants end to gender-based price discrimiation
Is it wrong that a trip to the barber for a man costs less than a trip to the hair dresser for a woman or that a man's boring cotton/polyester dress shirt costs less to dry-clean than a woman's frilly silk blouse? A Liberal MPP thinks so.
Lorenzo Berardinetti announced he'll introduce legislation to end the "discriminatory" pricing of some products and services for women. His legislation would amend Ontario's Human Rights Code to explicitly make gender pricing a form of discrimination punishable by fines of between $2000 and $5000.
Mr. Berardinetti says he was shocked to learn of the different prices women pay for the same services and products as men. In addition to haircuts and dry cleaning, he has pointed to the cost of clothes as an example of gender-based price discrimination. He says his bill would bring those prices down, but would not increase the prices for men.
Yeah, right... The corner dry cleaner is going to cut its prices for garments that are hard to clean and press and do nothing to the price of those easier articles of clothing - I don't think so. Instead, one of two things will happen. Either the price of the hard-to-clean will remain the same and the price of the simple will go up, or the dry cleaner will split the difference in order to have equal prices for both.
It also seems unlikely barbers and hairdressers will reduce the cost of a 30 minute woman's coif to the price of 15 minute man's cut. (As an aside, Mr. Berardinetti might also want to address the blatant discrimination against balding men who have to pay as much for a haircut as those with a full head of hair.)
And what about the 16-24 year old males who are charged through the teeth (and not without good reason) for auto insurance. Does Berardinetti think women should subsidize the riskier behaviour of their male counterparts? I doubt he thought that far ahead.
It is one of those things that looks good at first glance, and has generated some good publicity for a weak back-bench Liberal MPP, but the legislature should ensure this bill dies.
Further Reading:
Canada Lawmaker Wants to Stop Gender-Based Pricing (Reuters)
Posted by maxthecat on March 15, 2005 at 06:13 PM | Comments (0)
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