The Pink Tax
The pink tax refers to the tendency for products marketed specifically toward women to be more expensive than those marketed toward men.
I've said that many women would never willingly endure what men are routinely expected to take without complaining about it as part of having a well paid career. But I also believe that women are burdened with social expectations for how we are supposed to look which actively interfere with our ability to give as much to our careers as men do, such as long hair.
I think this gets largely overlooked by most people as a serious factor in our ongoing lack of gender parity. I'm perhaps more acutely aware of it because I have a genetic disorder that makes what I wear a big deal in terms of how functional I can be.
But I never can seem to adequately explain how what I wear can be the difference between being functional enough to work and merely being a handicapped loser and burden on society.
But let's posit that someone has, instead of Pale Skin Disorder, Frail Skin Disorder. And let's posit that merely having Frail Skin frequently leaves people wheelchair bound.
And let's posit that simply dressing them to accommodate their disorder would allow some to stop being wheelchair bound and this fact would actively help them heal. That wardrobe might look something like this:
1. Rubber shark brand (Crocs) shoes and lightweight loose cotton footies. The shoes should be a little loose.
2. Loose pants, loose T-shirt and suspenders or a knit or jersey dress for a femme version that is low friction.
3. For sleepwear, a very oversized T-shirt and no underwear.
You could top the daywear with an outer layer like an unbuttoned flannel top for warmth, but the stuff directly in contact with the skin should prioritize frictionless accommodation for skin that gets excessively easily damaged.
Rubbing shoes damaging the feet would be why they were wheelchair bound. New shoes and clothes could mean one spends less time in the chair within days of getting them.
I don't think that's a stretch to imagine that if your skin were fragile enough, "normal" clothes could be extremely damaging and impairing and simply getting low friction clothes could change your life.
Having the ability to buy a wardrobe of attractive, comfortable business casual clothes without shopping until you drop, without hiring an image consultant, without having to be some kind of style guru on top of whatever job skills you have for which they hired you would be a little like that for quite a lot of women with office jobs.
No, I'm not kidding, though I imagine most people will think I am.
Footnotes
Clothing examples based on firsthand experience. No, I don't care to explain.
