In the battle of the sexes, the price war may soon be ironed out - at least in Ontario.

Gender-based price differences among a spectrum of goods and services, including dry cleaning, haircuts, clothing and toiletries would be eliminated if the Ontario legislature gives third and final reading to a private member's bill that would outlaw the so-called gender tax.

Sam Mizrahi, president of DoveCorp Dry Cleaning and Laundry Services, which has four locations in Toronto, has seen this before, when he ran a dry-cleaning service in Los Angeles 13 years ago.

"The California law to end price discrepancies based on gender was taken very seriously by dry cleaners there," he says.

Brennan O'Connor, Business Edge
Sam Mizrahi is president of DoveCorp, one of the first drycleaners in Toronto to offer identical prices for same-fabric garments.

"I certainly did and when we moved to Toronto in 1995, we were among the first dry cleaners in the city to introduce identical prices for men's and ladies' garments of the same fabric.

"The California law basically explains that dry cleaners can't say: 'You're a woman, your shirt buttons on the other side, therefore it's a dollar more.' "Service prices are based on your labour, time and talent, and additional fees can be charged if it takes additional time to do a garment," Mizrahi says.

The bill to prohibit price discrimination on the basis of gender is the brainchild of Lorenzo Berardinetti, who represents Scarborough Southwest. The Liberal MPP has said he became aware of gender-based pricing disparities after he recently married and discovered that women pay more than men for similar services and products.

The bill passed second reading by the Ontario legislature in mid-April and may soon move to third and final reading, although no date has yet been set.

Mizrahi says prices stem from different processes needed to clean something such as a man's cotton shirt compared to a woman's sequined silk blouse.

"They're different materials requiring different intensities of labour, so it's only logical there be an added service fee," he says. "If an item requires special kind of handling, it merits a higher price charge."

One person who agrees is Randy Bridge, president of the Toronto-based Ontario Fabricare Association, which represents about 120 dry cleaners in the province.

"The automated technology generally used in our industry is specifically designed for larger shirts, those usually worn by men," he says. "Women's sizes are normally smaller and thus require additional hands-on touch-ups."

If the bill is enacted by the province, Bridge says there will be a price increase on men's items, rather than a decrease on women's. "That's if they (the legislators) want everything to be gender neutral."

Joanne Thomas Yaccato, president of the Toronto consulting firm The Thomas Yaccato Group and author of Reaching the Real World of Women Consumers, does not buy such arguments.

Joanne Thomas Yaccato

"This is a cyclical problem arising every five years to a media feeding frenzy, and then it fades from the headlines. Bottom line: If the technology is there for men's apparel, it must be there for cleaning women's garments," she says.

Thomas Yaccato, who has been writing about the issue of gender-pricing inequalities for the past 15 years, likes to tell the story of a man and a woman who went into a local dry cleaner with the identical shirt.

"First the man went in, asked how much it would cost to clean and was told $5. He walked out, gave the shirt to the woman, who took it back in. She was quoted $6.50."

Thomas Yaccato says that kind of discrimination goes unchallenged because most women buying products and services for themselves do not realize men are paying less for essentially the same thing.

"As an example, there are dozens of women's and men's deodorant brands, except the men's are twice as big," she says.

To find out why, Thomas Yaccato contacted one of the manufacturers and was told that because men's armpits are bigger, they use more deodorant with each swipe and the product needs to be bigger.

She says she could not believe her ears when she heard the explanation for why something twice as big would be sold at the same price as the smaller size.

"Women across the country are overcharged a total of $750 million for their hairstyling alone," Thomas Yaccato says. "I believe that so many hair salons and dry cleaners automatically charge more by virtue of you walking in with a different hormonal makeup."

The proposed changes give Thomas Yaccato reason for optimism. "It's difficult to say which way the wind is blowing on this matter," she says. "We're still miles behind the U.S., but at least our politicians are discussing it, and that's a positive step."

The proposed legislation allows consumers to lodge a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which has authority to investigate the grievance and lay charges.

Janet Allinson, a lawyer specializing in commercial law with London-based Siskind, Cromarty, Ivey & Dowler, says Bill 182 is modelled after legislation passed in a number of U.S. states including California, New York, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut.

"The fines are hefty there," she says. "In Ontario, pricing discrimination is not a criminal act to be enforced by the police. In effect, this law would be enforced by the public - the public will make it work. The power of the act is that it sends a signal to retailers - you must be self-regulating and you must correct your pricing practices. That goes for clothiers, too - an Arrow shirt for a woman shouldn't cost $60 if the same shirt for a man is price-tagged at $20."

This steams the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents more than 105,000 businesses, including 42,000 in Ontario.

"This bill is an offensive piece of legislation," says Satinder Chera, the organization's Ontario director of provincial affairs.

"It's insulting to small-business owners," he says. "If someone has concerns about what they are charged, they should take it up with the owner. If unsatisfied, the customer is free to take their business elsewhere."

Chera fears the legislation could open litigious floodgates. "If the language of the act is not made absolutely clear, there's real potential here for a stream of frivolous claims. And both the Human Rights Commission and small-business entrepreneurs have enough on their respective plates without getting tied up in months of expensive legal actions.

"Our wish is that Bill 182 goes no further," he says.

Fabricare's Bridge, however, says he is not overly alarmed about the impact of Bill 182 on responsible businesses.

"No one can really say what the overall effect will be. I think the biggest thing to emerge from this debate will be more dry cleaners offering 99-cent promotions for cleaning men's shirts - and women's blouses."

Highlights of Bill 182

* No person shall engage in gender-based pricing.

* Nothing abrogates or diminishes the right of a person to equal treatment with respect to services, goods and facilities under Section 1 of the Human Rights Code.

* A person who believes that their right to be free from gender-based pricing has been infringed may file a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

* In addition to the right to file a complaint, the person may commence an action in the Superior Court of Justice.

* In addition to an award of damages as a result of a gender-based pricing action, the court may award exemplary or punitive damages or such other relief as it considers appropriate.

* The bill proposes a fine of not more than $2,000 for a first offence and not more than $5,000 for a subsequent offence.

(Jack Kohane can be reached at kohane@businessedge.ca)