Cats Are the Women of the Pet World: Discrimination & Price Gouging
Like Women in a Man’s World, Cats Are Second-Class Citizens in the Pet World Dominated by Dogs.
I went to my local natural pet store today to stock up on chicken dog treats. I was looking for the brand I had purchased in the past but couldn’t find it on the shelf. A store employee approached and asked if she could help me.
I explained that I was looking for the chicken dog treats in the yellow bag. She pointed to the new packaging for the product I had bought in the past.
I mentioned that they were actually for my cat. She leaned in, rolled her eyes and whispered: “They sell the same exact product for cats, but in a smaller bag for a higher price.”
“Of course they do!” I said, commiserating with her.
I’ve been buying men’s razors for about 20 years. I found that women’s razors seemed to get dull very quickly and were more expensive than razors for men. So I decided to experiment and bought the double-edged Gillette Sensor Mach II Plus something-or-another razor that included 5 refills.
OMG! Each refill of the men’s razor lasted about five times longer than any women’s razors I had tried.
Not being the picture of femininity, it wasn’t hard for me to switch from the oversized pink handled hunk of plastic…
…to the slim black simplicity of the men’s razor.
I was also more than happy to pass up the excessive packaging of women’s razors. It’s pretty obvious what we’re paying for.
Women, like cats, pay a higher price for a lower quality product.
We now know why men and dogs dominate the world. Okay, all you dog women who are about to sic your puppy on me — don’t take offense! Just be happy to know that your canine pet is a more economical choice!
Maybe the saying “Men are dogs!” isn’t an insult after all…but simply a statement referring to their position in the world? Who knew?
I wrote this piece up to this point sitting in my car after coming out of “The Natural Dog” — yes, that’s the name of the pet store!
I saved the draft on my phone, then went into the hardware store located next to The Natural Dog.
As I approached the door I see this sign:
I cracked up. How perfect it was to leave the doggy-dominated pet store and enter a space ruled by a cat! (and a female cat at that!)
As I entered, I spotted her immediately sitting proudly on the floor in front of aisle #3. I asked the guy in the hardware store employee vest standing next to her if that was the cat referenced on the door? He nodded.
Later when I was completing my purchase at the cash register, she was perched right there in a sphinx-like pose, almost snoozing but with one eye open for dogs (and possibly shoplifters).
In Soraya Chemaly’s recently published book, Rage Becomes Her, she shares a long list of women’s products and clothing that are more expensive than the equivalent for men. I wasn’t surprised by this, because of my brilliant razor experiment, and I had heard of the “Pink Tax” (referring to the colors associated with girls and women’s products that are priced anywhere from 5% to 30% more than men’s similar products)
But I was not aware that these higher prices extended across the board — it’s a very long list.
And don’t get me started about the “luxury tax” we pay for the products we need to absorb our monthly bleeding. Fortunately, individual states are moving to do away with that tax.
Once I stopped menstruating, I took the money I was saving from no longer needing to buy tampons and invested it. I now have a portfolio worth over $65,000. Just kidding! But I bet it would be close to that if I had.
Just this week I ran across this article:
“Pink cab called ‘tampon taxi’ to distribute sanitary products to homeless women”
The article is about Project Period that raises money and distributes menstrual products to homeless women. The painted vehicle is also used as a regular taxi to help raise awareness about period poverty.
According to the article:
“Period poverty is a prevalent problem in Britain — the issue affects one in 10 people and has risen alongside the swelling number of those who are reliant on food banks.”
The numbers in the United States are probably similar. I’m not sure about this beyond the U.S. but there is a disgraceful lack of menstrual products provided to women in prison. I’ve read that they are in short supply and/or incarcerated women are required to pay for their tampons and sanitary napkins….like, with what money?
Just last month, in November 2018 a new study was released about pay inequity. It was performed over a longer time period than previous studies and therefore considered to be more accurate. The study determined that women don’t make 80 cents to every dollar that men make, as we had thought. It’s far worse — we only make 49 cents to the male dollar.
So, the gender pay gap shows us earning half of what men do for comparable work, and we’re paying up to 30% more for the clothing we wear and the products we use.
Needless to say, women (and cats) are not happy.
Who knows if felines have anyone lobbying for species equity?
But what I do know is that a significant number of human women will soon take the oath of office on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.
There’s hope.
