UK pharmacy changes prices after ‘sexistsurcharge’ backlash

One of Ireland and the U.K.’s biggest health and beauty merchants, Boots, is under fire after consumers questioned the chain’s pricing disparity between men’s and women’s products.

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Claims of gender pricing inequality have forced a British retailer to rethink how it prices certain goods.

Boots UK was confronted online, via Twitter using the hashtag #sexistsurcharge and with a Change.org petition. Both platforms questioned the company’s practice of “pink taxing” some of its products for women.

The group found several items, including eye cream and razors, to be priced higher for women than for men.

Here are price variations cited in the petition:

£9.99 for eye cream for women, but £7.29 for men. £2.29 for eight women’s razors, £1.49 for a pack of 10 for men. A visit to any Boots store and it’s plain as day on the British high street that women are being ripped off.

Boots UK reached out to equality campaign organizers Tuesday.

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