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In a culture increasingly sensitive to any appearance of inequitable treatment between the genders, the recent finding that women pay substantially more than men for the same over-the-counter product is likely to stir up controversy. The product in question is Rogaine, a brand name formulation of minoxidil, which is said to slow the progression of hair loss and in some cases regrow hair that’s been lost.
The product is available in pharmacies, the personal care aisles of most big box discount stores, and from online suppliers as well. It comes in both a topical solution and a foam. For men, it’s available as a 5 percent minoxidil solution to be applied twice daily, while for women it’s sold as a 2 percent solution, which is also to be applied twice daily. The foam formulation of Rogaine for both men and women contains 5 percent minoxidil but is to be applied twice daily by men and only once daily by women.
Penn Dermatologists Compare Prices
Three researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, led by Jules B. Lipoff, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical dermatology at the university’s medical school, checked prices of Rogaine products at large retail chains operating in Indiana, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. These retailers included CVS, Kroger, Rite Aid, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart. The researchers’ findings were published in the June 7, 2017, issue of “JAMA Dermatology.”
For both the solution and foam formulations of Rogaine, researchers compared the price per 30 milliliters of product. They found that prices for 30 milliliters of Rogaine’s men’s 5 percent solution averaged $7.63, while the prices for the same amount of women’s 2 percent solution averaged $7.61.
Solution Prices Compared
At first glance, these prices don’t seem that far out of line until one considers that the women’s product contains less than half the active ingredient — minoxidil — found in the solution marketed to men. Researchers concede that it’s possible the price difference is accounted for by the added cost of the additional inactive ingredients used in the women’s solution.
However, no such excuse exists for the glaring price discrepancy between the prices for men’s and women’s Rogaine foam, both of which contain 5 percent minoxidil. Prices for 30 milliliters of the men’s Rogaine foam averaged $8.05, while prices for the same quantity of the women’s foam averaged $11.27. This means that women are paying roughly 40 percent more for the same product.
The only foam formulation of minoxidil currently sold in the United States is marketed by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. through the company’s Rogaine.com website. The online prices for both the men’s and women’s brands of Rogaine foam are identical. A company spokesperson said it has no control over the prices posted by individual retailers.
Ethics Questioned
In an interview with Reuters.com, Dr. Lipoff, senior author of the study, questioned the ethics of charging women more for essentially the same product. He said he and his colleagues were simply taking an objective look at current pricing practices. “Still, we don’t think it’s right to charge different people different prices for the exact same drug.”
Although the University of Pennsylvania study focused exclusively on pricing for Rogaine hair loss products, earlier studies have indicated that women generally pay more for personal care products that are essentially the same as those marketed to men.
Gender-Based Pricing Widespread
And, gender-based pricing is not limited to personal care products. In fact, a study conducted by New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs that found women generally pay more than men for identical products, ranging “from toys to clothes to canes.” Findings from the study were published in December 2015.
The New York City department’s investigation into gender-based pricing discrepancies was based on an analysis of the prices of nearly 800 products across 35 product categories. That analysis found significant pricing disparities between similar products as they were marketed to women and men.
Among those findings: Shirts for baby girls cost an average of 13 percent more than the same sort of shirts for male infants. Toys marketed to girls were 11 percent more expensive than those sold to boys, even though the toys were identical in all respects except color. And the New York City department found that women pay an average of 13 percent more for personal care products with ingredients comparable to those in men’s products.
A Cradle to Grave Pattern
This pattern appears to hold true pretty much from cradle to grave, according to the New York City study. Elderly women who need supports or braces pay 15 percent more for them than men do, while canes for women average 12 percent more than canes for men. Women even pay more — 2 percent more — than men for adult diapers.
While New York City has laws that prohibit gender-based price hikes for services, such as those offered by hair salons and dry cleaners, it has no control over the pricing of most consumer products. To call greater attention to these pricing inequities, the Department of Consumer Affairs suggested that individuals help to increase awareness of these discrepancies through the use of social media.
Women May Not Know They’re Paying More
Of the stark difference in pricing between Rogaine foam for women and Rogaine foam for men, Dr. Lipoff stressed that these products contain the exact same ingredients. However, because they are marketed in different amounts and in different packaging based on gender, “women probably do not even realize they are paying more.”
Dr. Lipoff said he and his colleagues “recommend that our female patients buy the male version of the product, because it doesn’t seem right to ask a woman to pay more when the products are, for all intents and purposes, identical.”
Hair loss is a widespread problem among both American men and women. The primary cause of this hair loss is androgenetic alopecia, which was once referred to primarily as male pattern balding. Today, depending on the gender affected, it is known as either male pattern hair loss or female pattern hair loss. An estimated 50 million men and 30 million women in America suffer from androgenetic alopecia, which usually manifests itself in men as a receding hairline, while in women it usually surfaces as a generalized thinning of the hair.
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