I am currently working on a project involving women and pricing discrimination. An example of this would be women's jeans costing more than the exact same kind of men's jeans. I was wondering if your organization has looked into this type of situation, or maybe you know of some other organization that has. I'd appreciate any help or advice you'd be able to offer. Thanks in advance for your assistance and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for your note. I am familiar with the exact situation that you describe--in fact the other day I took a shirt to the dry cleaners and was outraged that it cost $2 more than a men's shirt of the exact same style. The cleaner explained that my shirt was a "blouse" and men's shirts are "shirts." How could he tell? He simply explained "because the buttons are on the left side."

There are supposed to be measures in place to protect against this type of thing--i.e. haircuts should be on length not gender, etc.......I think that the best place to start would Ralph Nader's group--I think that it is called Public Citizen -- they are based in Washington, DC at 202-588-1000. They work on consumer concerns, etc.... Good luck.

—Amy