Is There a Pay Gap Between Female and Male Physicians?

     Unfortunately the answer is yes.

     A study released in 2004, authored by Timothy J. Hoff, PhD, associate professor at StateUniversity of New York at Albany, showed that female hospitalists earned approximately $22,000 less per year than their male counterparts, despite similar work patterns. The study controlled for a wide range of professional and personal variables including clinical workload, compensation type, employer type, marital status, and tenure in hospital medicine.

     Another study, released last year in Health Affairs, found that male physicians newly trained in the state of New York made on average $16,819 more than newly trained female physicians in 2008. This is up $13,219 from the difference in 1999 of $3,600 between the male and female physician compensation rates. The authors of this study controlled for specialty type, hours worked, designation of hours, immigration status, age, and practice location. Job tenure, institutional rank and job productivity were not factors in this study since the focus was solely on starting salaries.

     Finally, according to the 2011 SHM-MGMA compensation and productivity survey, mean annual compensation for female physicians in family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics is lower than that of their male counterparts by $4,448, $29,211 and $23,402 respectively. Liz Boten, a spokeswoman for the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), says factors such as practice location, practice ownership and productivity can have an effect on compensation and could be a reason behind the disparity, but most likely does not account for the entire difference in compensation.

     Even more problematic than the wage gap itself, is trying to understand why it still exists and why it won’t close. So what is being done to try to close this gap? Well, on the most basic level, organizations need to conduct self-audits to assess whether men and women are being compensated equitably, and make adjustments when necessary. Furthermore, organizations can adopt policies to promote pay transparency and allow employees to discuss compensation and suggest ways it can be improved.

     In workplaces where compensation discussions are discouraged, women need to take it upon themselves to informally speak with their male friends to gather information and determine if there is a pay gap issue before taking other actions.

     Although equal pay laws exist at the federal level, such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there is not an easy way to enforce such laws. Without enforcing legislation, there is no real way for legislation to make a difference in the compensation gap.

     Employers and government forces should have a significant role in closing the pay gap, however, women also need to advocate for change when necessary.