Non-Fiction Response post # 12

     I have recently read an upfront magazine, and there was an article inside called "Is gender-based pricing fair?" This article has two sides of the argument. One person stated his reasons why he thought it was fair, and the other person stated why he thought it wasn't fair. For the yes it's fair section by Mike Durant, he said it was fair because its not the same service. He gave examples such as cleaning a male's shirt is easier than a woman's because it has no ruffles or delicate buttons, and giving a man a haircut is easier and quicker than a woman. For the no its not fair section by Jonathan Mintz, he said businesses cant discriminate their pricing. He said the price shouldn't matter based on what gender you are.
     A reason why i would agree with the yes it is fair side is because the businesses do have a right on deciding the prices they charge. "This is how the free market works: Businesses are free to charge whatever price they think will bear for their goods or their services."(Durant 23)
They charge it by how long it takes to do. If one takes 5 minutes, and the other an hour, you would charge the 5 minute one less because it was easier and faster than the other one. That seems pretty fair. Mike Durant, New York State Director believes gender-pricing is fair because the service that each business gives to a gender, isn't the same to the opposite gender, so they should charge differently.
      Another reason why i would agree with the yes its fair section is because, in the article it said "The same service for women often isn't really the same" and i totally agree with that. When you go to a hair salon, both man and women would be getting a hair cut. But they wont be getting the same kind, the women would ask for a layered hair cut, meaning it would take longer, and the man would be just a simple buzz. So they have a reason to charge different prices. Although in the no section they said, "If businesses want to charge diffferent prices, they need to have legitmate, nondiscriminatory reasons for the differences. Chromosomes are not reasons" (Mintz 23), the businesses can come up with whatever price they feel is right because its THIER business, and the costumers decided wheather or not they like it. And if they don't like it, they could go to another store.
     Every business can have a different business for everything. After reading this article, i have decided that in my opinion, gender-based pricing is fair. In most stores they charge women higher prices, and i think its fair because the woman's service that they are asking for is more complex and takes time to do. On the other hand the guys job is easier because they don't ask for too much.

Work cited:
Durant, Mike, and Jonathan MIntz. "Is Gender-Based Pricing Fair?" Upfront Magazine 5 Nov. 2012: 23. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.