One of the most common mental health disorders someone might struggle with is depression. Twice as many women experience depression at some point in their lives when compared to men. Gender, genetic, social, and economic differences all play a role in the development of depression in women.Major depressive disorder accounts for a significant amount of disability worldwide. Depressive disorders account for more than 40% of disability in women. In men, they account for just under 30% of disability.

About 20% of all women will experience rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime. This may increase the risk of developing a mental health issue. Women are exposed to higher levels of sexual violence and have higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with sexual violence.

Pressure caused by multiple societal roles and overworking has also been shown to account for poor mental health in women. Women are also more likely to be discriminated against as a consequence of their gender when compared to men. This could increase their chances of developing a mental health issue.

According to the Payoff study, 23 percent of Americans—and 35 percent of millennials—experience a debilitating degree of stress over their finances, affecting their thoughts and feelings in ways that are most commonly associated with PTSD, a disorder most commonly associated with combat, sexual assault, and other serious traumas. Those who suffer from this debilitating stress act out in inexplicable ways without being able to adequately think through things, according to the study, and experience a diminished ability to plan, organize, and manage their finances.

Researchers surveyed 2,011 American adults, and found that 23 percent of them met criteria for three of the required dimensions of diagnosed PTSD: Intrusive thoughts, feelings of detachment and avoidance, and behavioral arousal. When the researchers isolated millennials, they found 35 percent met the criteria. And much of their reported stress, the researchers found, surrounded credit and financial difficulties, leading them to name the condition Acute Financial Stress.

By next year the amount women will need to pay back is estimated to total one trillion dollars, with the average female borrower owing around $21,000 after graduation. That’s a colossal sum, and it’s roughly $2,700 more than her average male counterpart owes, according to the AAUW.

women pay more for almost ever product over the course of their lives, from baby clothes to home health care items.

Baby clothes for girls cost more than those for boys (shirts for girls can cost 13% more), and toys marketed to girls cost 11% more than those for boys, even if they were the exact same toys in different colors

In fact, personal care products are so overpriced for women that female customers pay more 56% of the time, even when the ingredients are comparable.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., one of the bill’s co-sponsors and chair of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.

“The military requires servicewomen to buy swimsuits, dress pumps and other items that are either not required for servicemen or that have less-expensive equivalents for men, and the GAO found that servicewomen have been more affected by mandatory uniform changes that must be covered out of pocket.”

The total cost of replacing the Army’s 15 “initial issue” uniform items costs on average about $382 for male soldiers and $642 for female soldiers.

In June 2021, California Congresswoman Jackie Speier reintroduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act, a bipartisan bill that seeks to end gender discrimination in the pricing of goods and services. The bill would prohibit the sale of substantially similar goods or services that are priced differently based on gender, allow the Federal Trade Commission to take enforce violations, and permit State Attorneys General to take civil action on behalf of wronged consumers.  Currently the bill is before the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.

CBS News conducted an experiment where two members of their staff — a man and a woman — went to multiple dry cleaners in New York City with the same white cotton button-up shirt. The experiment found that “more than half of the dry cleaners charged the female staff member at least twice as much to clean the shirt. Some even charged her three times as much.”

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research had male and female participants call mechanics to get quotes for car repairs. Callers who appear to be well-informed about pricing were treated the same regardless of gender. However, female callers who were uninformed on pricing were quoted almost $23 more on average than male callers.

The only true way to end the Pink Tax is to call out brands that perpetuate a system of discriminatory gender-based pricing.

Motherhood can also lead to interruptions in women’s career paths and have an impact on long-term earnings. Our 2016 survey of workers who had taken parental, family or medical leave in the two years prior to the survey found that mothers typically take more time off than fathers after birth or adoption. The median length of leave among mothers after the birth or adoption of their child was 11 weeks, compared with one week for fathers. About half (47%) of mothers who took time off from work in the two years after birth or adoption took off 12 weeks or more

"On average, DCA found that women's products cost 7 percent more than similar products for men," the department concluded. The biggest price differentials were found for personal-care products (13 percent), adult clothing (8 percent), and home health care products (8 percent). The DCA refers to this impact as a "gender tax."

Since they don't, one can jump to one of two conclusions: either women are so brainwashed by marketing that they choose products against their own best interests because of it, or women find some discernible appeal in the women's products—be that different ingredients, cosmetic factors, or whatever else—that make them worth paying more for.

Discrimination is our tentative conclusion only when all the economic explanations have been exhausted.

So is this really a “pink tax” or is it a “blue discount?” And is it really that firms are somehow punishing women, or is it that women’s preferences are such that they are willing to pay more to get exactly the product they want?

Does seeing the pink tax as generally harmless price discrimination resulting from the nature of men’s and women’s preferences mean all such price differentials are not true gender discrimination? It does not.