Legarda pushes gender-based price discrimination ban

Senator Loren Legarda has filed legislation aimed at eliminating gender-based price discrimination on consumer products and services, targeting commercial markups on items marketed toward women.

Senate Bill 2483, formally titled the Anti-Pink Tax Act, would prohibit businesses from charging higher prices for substantially similar goods and services based solely on the target gender of the consumer.

While commonly referred to as a “pink tax,” the practice represents a commercial pricing strategy rather than a government levy, imposing higher costs on daily necessities targeted at female consumers without gender-neutral cost justifications.

“It is alarming that exploiters are using these gender inequalities,” Legarda said in a statement.

“Discriminatory practices against women seem to be used as a market strategy. Just because an item is marketed to women or changed to pink, it becomes more expensive? That is unjust,” she added.

Data from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies indicates that Filipinas earn 8.6 percent less than men in agriculture and up to 18 percent less in the digital industry.

Despite the wage gap, local market comparisons reveal significant gender markups, including children’s toys carrying over a 20 percent markup for pink variants and Metro Manila salons charging P2,500 for women’s haircuts compared to P1,500 for men’s haircuts, regardless of length.

Global data from the World Economic Forum indicates that personal care products marketed to women carry an average markup of 13 percent while personal services can cost 34 to 90 percent more.

Under the proposed regulatory framework, differences in color, packaging, or gender-targeted marketing would no longer legally justify price disparities for similar items.

Once a preliminary case of discriminatory pricing is established, the burden of proof would shift to the business to justify the price difference using verifiable factors such as raw material or labor costs.

The bill empowers the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to issue compliance orders and levy administrative fines ranging from P50,000 to P1 million for noncompliant businesses.

Legarda clarified that the legislation does not seek to establish government price controls.

“We are not implementing price controls; we are simply ensuring that businesses base their prices on actual production costs, not on gender identity or targeted marketing,” Legarda said. “The goal of the Anti-Pink Tax Act is to end this exploitative system to ensure fair pricing for everyone.”

The measure also directs the DTI and the Philippine Commission on Women to conduct annual market studies and consumer education campaigns, while establishing a voluntary certification program for businesses that eliminate gender pricing discrepancies.