Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
IDK - at Costco, I often see more selection of women's cloths on clearance than men's.
The primary reason for the pricing discrepancy according to The Business of Fashion is "that women shop more and are willing to pay more for fashion than men. Men approach buying clothes with more pragmatism."
Many women that do want quality over quantity which does cost more, will want this of all items regardless of gender. And for those of us that are frugal or watch our bottom line, we won’t buy at retail price.
Yes, Costco may have clothes on sale but in my experience my work clothes won’t be coming from there, and the clothes I do buy my husband are cheaper than what women’s are there. That said, this may be due to Costco having Kirkland brand jeans and the more generic items at a lower cost than the more name brand women’s items they carry. I only buy items on sale and even with 30% off from Kohl’s or clearance at Costco, like item for like, hubbies stuff is usually cheaper. Cause I’m frugal like that
Women's stuff is way more expensive than men. Hands down.
A basic man's haircut is $10-$20. Women are going to spend three times that. There is no expectation for a man to have highlights and a fashionable hairstyle, there is a huge expectation for women to do so. You cannot simply disregard expectations, we all live in society, and are impacted by the way we interact with society.
Clothing is similar. Men can get buy with simple clothing. Suits can be pricey, but you only need a few, and they last for years. Women, for comparable jobs, are expected to have a variety of different clothes.
In addition to tampons and such, women have one more doctor than men to visit.
Women earn less than men with comparable experience, in comparable careers.
The OP seems to be basing his assumption of cost strictly on caloric intake, which is completely absurd. Food costs are among the smallest costs we have, when compared to basic housing, transportation, and utilities. Food is a rounding error, and the difference between men and women is going to be a fraction of a rounding error.
Women's stuff is way more expensive than men. Hands down.
A basic man's haircut is $10-$20. Women are going to spend three times that. There is no expectation for a man to have highlights and a fashionable hairstyle, there is a huge expectation for women to do so. You cannot simply disregard expectations, we all live in society, and are impacted by the way we interact with society.
Clothing is similar. Men can get buy with simple clothing. Suits can be pricey, but you only need a few, and they last for years. Women, for comparable jobs, are expected to have a variety of different clothes.
In addition to tampons and such, women have one more doctor than men to visit.
Women earn less than men with comparable experience, in comparable careers.
The OP seems to be basing his assumption of cost strictly on caloric intake, which is completely absurd. Food costs are among the smallest costs we have, when compared to basic housing, transportation, and utilities. Food is a rounding error, and the difference between men and women is going to be a fraction of a rounding error.
For the record, I am male.
Jeans are cheaper for women (on average). I was in a Levis outlet recently. Not saying everything is more expensive for men. Most likely due to more material to make. Just one item I noticed.
I am a guy, and I'll say single women can live more cheaply.
Men are going to need a lot more food. A lot of extra protein and meat. More food means more money, and meat tends to be more expensive. Some states still tax groceries!
Car insurance for men is higher, too.
Men's clothes are also more expensive.
Not only do women eat less and thus save more, their car insurance and clothes are cheaper. Women don't have to wear makeup, jewelry, or get any fancy hairdo. If they buy their clothes from Walmart and aren't into fashion then they can live very cheaply.
I say single men vs single women, because of course Weddings will cost half a years salary and women's families are responsible for the costs.
Many men eat once a day
Yea right, I'm dating an "Amazon" right now, LOL. She needs calories.
"Women don't have to wear makeup, jewelry, or get a fancy hairdo", in 2020? This isn't a thing anymore.
By far the biggest factor in how much one spends for living expenses are choices one makes. Housing in particular is by far the biggest expense. Food is fairly far down the list. I will give OP the fact that if they eat the same diet, men eat more and therefore spend more. However, this difference is minuscule in the big picture. OP conveniently leaves out many expenses that women typically spend more on than men (grooming) or that men don't even have (feminine hygiene products). Also leaves out normal female expenses that may not be absolutely necessary (makeup), but are considered normal by most females. All this without even considering the fact that women make far less on average than men.
OP's assumption has zero credibility in my book. If both genders are living as cheaply as possible there probably will be a difference in total spending but it's pretty hard to even begin to state your case on which gender will be able to spend less without some kind of statistical analysis. I have a feeling it would be about the same. OP's post is much to do about nothing.
To be a fair comparison, you would have to use the "average man" versus the "average woman". If not, the debate can degrade down to what sex can panhandle and dumpster dive better.
-----------
Despite what people are saying here, men and women earn about the same given same career and job experience. The so called wage gap is due to differences in hours worked, career choices, and time taken off for pregnancy, etc.
The average woman will spend more on their beauty and clothing routine than a man. Average man likely doesn't care as much.
Men do eat more, probably drink more too.
A single woman might be more inclined towards eating at fancy restaurants with friends than a single man.
A single man spends more on dating most likely unless all the single women he finds wants to go dutch.
Women do tend to go to the doctor regularly, feminine reasons and otherwise, pretty good about preventative healthcare. Many men avoid going to the doctor unless they're pretty much dying, which might be more expensive in the long run.
Just some examples off the top of my head. I did try to be fair.
Let's say that the single man and the single woman in question live in the same city doing the same job earning the same salary. Neither of them have any family they can stay with. Both are trying to live as cheaply as they can. The woman doesn't wear makeup, no jewelry, never does her hair, and buys clothes at Walmart. Hates fashion and accessories. The man also hates fashion and is fine not owning a car, fine with just biking and taking the subway and bus.
Both the man and the woman are healthy, no medical conditions.
The woman is 5' 4''. The man is 6' 1''. Both exercise the same amount, same kind of exercise.
Both the man and the woman are into relatively healthy, but not vegan or vegetarian, eating. They eat the same cuisine and cook mostly at home. Although the man will naturally eat more meat because men need more protein, and he's nine inches taller.
And let's not include weddings in the discussion. Then it would obviously make being a woman more expensive.
I'm willing to bet that while the man saves money by not having to buy feminine products (although let's say he is clean shaven), the savings from not buying feminine hygiene products is far offset by his much bigger appetite, which is because he's going to need a lot more calories and protein because he is nine inches taller than the woman, and because men need more protein, even at the same height, as women. And protein rich food costs more than veggies.
He can eat beans and other sources of cheap protein. Women have to shave more of their bodies.
I have an old car, a clean record and pay a fortune on car insurance just because I live in NY.
I was in my brother's bathroom and noticed how simple things were in there compared to mine. He had one bottle
of shampoo, a tooth brush, tooth paste, bar of soap, razor. I have shampoo, conditioner, soaps, facial cleanser, feminine
products, lady razors, tooth paste, teeth whitening, hand lotion, baby powder the list goes on.....
I also notice the recent summer catalog from Land's End. The men's section is around three pages. 85% of the catalog
contains female clothing.
Yeah, there's good reason for that. Unless the guy is metro or hypebeast or something, he's probably more minimalistic and replaces or buys things due to need than want.
Like how guys tend to wear the same set of clothes over and over and over and over until they fall apart.
Why when men shop, they'll simply lean towards cheaper for "the same product"; shampoo is shampoo right? For products geared towards men, companies have to compete more heavily on price.
Why women shop for the guy's clothes and for the house because the guy literally won't do it unless they feel it's necessary. Just the fact that guys hate shopping while women will spend the entire weekend doing it already says something about consumer habits. Women love new bedding, fresh matresses, and fluffy pillows... bachelors will have some threadbare sheets and two sad pancaked pillows his last girlfriend bought him. lolol
Despite near equality in numbers, according to Bloomberg, women make more than 85% of the consumer purchases in the United States, and reputedly influence over 95% of total goods and services purchased.
The practice of charging more for products targeted at women is called "the pink tax." The study found that 42 percent of the time, women pay more for similar products such as razors, toys, and dry cleaning.Oct 18, 2018
This statement here "Women don't have to wear makeup, jewelry, or get any fancy hairdo". LMAO. As John McEnroe once said "You cannot be serious'! Just go to department stores and compare the square footage DEVOTED to women's attire/accessories/cosmetics compared to space allocated to men's personal appearance. Then,open a Yellow pages and count the number of salons, both nail and hair, and compare to men's grooming/barbers. Its NOT even close, the disparity. Those things you think aren't essential to woman aren't supported by reality.
Right. Even looking at a group of poor men and women, all of whom are being as frugal as they can, a man can get away with keeping his hair and facial hair clean-cut, but a woman needs some style to look equally as sharp.
At a minimum we have to be adept at giving ourselves manis and pedis and the costs associated with that, plus some basic make up and hair products/weaves and such for many women.
So to compare, the female has to be a slob. Meaning there is no comparison. Of course the man is expected to pay for dates, so it can even out that way.
If the people are not meant to date or socialize, what is the point of living? They just work and go home and cut coupons all evening, watching TV on antennas?
Birth control costs almost always fall on the female. Don't tell me sex is not allowed for our ultra frugal hypotheticals.
The two leading costs are housing and transportation. Housing doesn't change much but transportation, which mostly involves vehicles, does. As mentioned, men pay more for insurance. Since they often live further and buy powerful engines, higher costs for gas and repairs. Clothing and food are relatively small costs. However men drink more. So men generally have higher expenses. However, their earnings are usually higher, partly because they are more willing to take dangerous, lucrative jobs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
