A new study has come out looking at the pay gap between male and female physicians. Previously some have claimed that the pay differences are rooted in work hours, productivity, and specialization. You know the same reasons we hear in every field as the causes of unfair pay.
University of Michigan investigators led by Reshma Jagsi studied a homogeneous sample of physicians to control for the effects of career specialization. They surveyed over 800 physicians. The survey included questions about age, income, medical specialty, martial status, work hours, time spent in research, number of peer-reviewed publications, location, race, additional grants, leadership roles, and other degrees.
The results demonstrated an average annual salary of respondents was $200,422 for men and $167,669 for women. After adjusting for factors that could explain the pay differences, such as specialization, title, hours, productivity, the researchers found an income disparity of $12,001 a year or more than $350,000 over a career between male and female physicians for similar work.
One of the co-authors, Peter Ubel, is not ready to attribute the salary difference to conscious discrimination, noting that negotiation style may contribute. However, he does not that medical and academic centers should pay fairly.
This looks like an interesting study, I can't wait to read the whole thing. Additionally, something good comes out of the University of Michigan! Brace yourselves, my next post is going to be on the anti-choice bill that just passed in Michigan.
SOURCE: The full study, "Gender Differences in the Salaries of Physician Researchers," is published in theJournal of the American Medical Association.
