Before launching the campaign, the Ombudsperson’s Office carried out a pilot study and found out that in most hairdressing salons a haircut for women is 23%-43% more expensive than for men, while a manicure is usually more expensive when a client is male. For a manicure men pay 10% more than women but a pedicure is even more expensive – prices are up to 40% higher for men.
The Office is actively encouraging providers of goods and services to update their prices according to the objective criteria and make them gender-neutral, since every client, regardless of gender, has individual needs. For instance, hairdressers are now asked to set the prices of haircuts according to the products necessary for a particular haircut, the style and complexity of a haircut, instruments used and so on. The Office aims to change the habits of “gender pricing” and make sure that the client’s gender no longer affects the price of a service received.
Now the Office calls social media users to post and report such instances on Facebook using special hashtag #KainaNeturiLyties. (#PriceHasNoGender).