ABSTRACT
The colour pink is a strong universal symbol of femininity. Accordingly, it can safely be assumed that the so‑called ‘pink tax’ is a tax intended to be imposed on women. In everyday language, ‘pink tax’ is used interchangeably with ‘woman tax’ (or ‘women tax), ‘gender tax’ and ‘tampon tax’. All these terms designate two distinct types of ‘taxes’: the additional amount charged on ‘pink products’ and the additional amount charged on women’s sanitary protection products. Since taxes are traditionally named after their object and not their subject, the terms ‘woman tax’ and ‘gender tax’ are not suitable to designate either of the taxes under examination. Despite the fact the other two terms need to be refined from a purely scientific view, they have become popular concepts that cannot easily be replaced. For these reasons, ‘pink tax’ will be used to designate the additional amount charged on ‘pink products’ and the term ‘tampon tax’ will be employed to refer to the additional amount charged on women’s sanitary protection products throughout this book.
