Battle of the Wages - Male vs. Female Physicians

Building - Crystal Vande Poppe
Building - Crystal Vande Poppe
Is there a difference in salaries for female doctors in the U.S.?

Women overall, do hold a high number of professional employment positions across many industries, but the ratio is different than men. For example, per Professional Women:Vital Statistics, in 2005, 92% of registered nurses were still women. During that same year, 32% of all physicians/surgeons and 67% of all psychologists were women. This is for all aspects of healthcare, and not hospital-specific. Many organizations employ doctors who utilize their skills, experience, and education other than in the traditional front-line patient care that is often associated with the medical industry.

Women physicians and surgeons earn a shocking 39% less than male doctors and surgeons. What’s even more interesting is that even within female dominated positions, this disparity of wages still exists. For example, 91.6% of registered nurses are female, yet women RNs earn 8% less than their male counterparts. (Professional Women:Vital Statistics) The survey is for healthcare as a whole, and not just hospital-based doctors and nurses. (It was assumed, however, that the exact same number of hours worked was concluded, but this could not be confirmed).

To give some historical data for physicians, according to Professional Women:Vital Statistics in the 1960-61 school year the number of females in medical school was 5.8%. These numbers have improved, and in the 2005-2006 year, it was up to almost 49%. Dentistry has also seen some large improvement for similar time frames. In 1959-1960, dentistry degrees for women were 0.8%, and in 2002-2003 it was 39%.

In recent years, female physicians are starting to choose more specialty careers, which are also higher paying than primary care. In the past, female doctors tended to choose the role of a primary care physician (including pediatrics), which pays less than specialists. In 2005, per the US Department of Labor, physicians made the following average annual pay:

  • Surgeons $177,700
  • Psychiatrists $146,000
  • Family Practitioners $140,400
  • Pediatricians $139,230

Therefore, the women physicians earn less just based on specialty or area of practice alone. These are not just hospital doctors, and do include physicians in other patient care treatment centers such as clinics, medical groups, private practice, government practices, such as the VA or County, as well. In a more recent Salary Report from 2009, "Male primary-care physicians make 22% more than lady docs."

Much study and research has been done to help define reasons for the disparity and gaps between men, women and their professional roles. Although this is improving overall, some reasons for the differences between male and female physicians are given by Dr. Scott G. Waterman, who is the College of Medicine Associate Dean of Student Affairs and also an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont. He stated, "There’s an assumption that women will need to balance professional life and home [life]."

On the flip side, he did say that men are starting to think less of "professional gains," and are thinking of family life as well. He further claims that some of the female medical students are choosing areas of medicine that will be "flexible" and allow them time at home as well. He does go on to claim that over half of the medical students are now female. According to Waterman the University of Vermont had 60 women and 37 men graduate in 2006 from their medical program. However, the national figures are less. The national numbers (per the AAMC Faculty Development and Leadership) for 2004-2005 the "national average of female MD graduates is 48%, which is a significant increase based on the 20 percent from around 1977."

Although the opportunities for female physicians has made significant improvements overall, it still has some distance to go. While historically, women have always had a large percentage of employment in the healthcare field, their roles were mostly that of nurses, doctor assistants, and this was only a few decades ago.

Sources

Health Care Gender Roles retrieved on May 15, 2010

Professional Women: Vital Statistics retrieved on May 15, 2010

Salary Report:We’re Still Getting Shortchanged. 16 (Issue 4, 2009, April) Marie Claire, 92.

Crystal, C. E. Vande Poppe

Crystal Vande Poppe - Without the bad days, sometimes we forget to appreciate the good ones.

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Comments

Apr 3, 2011 9:24 AM
Guest :
As a male, I always try to find women doctors for every thing because I have found that statement that women can do everything a male can do but they do it better to be an understatement, Women are the superior gender and they have proven it time and time again as they are surpassing males in every area. There are very few things women can not and do not do better than we males can.
Sep 7, 2011 1:42 AM
Guest :
There are very few things women can not and do not do better than we males can.

I strongly agree with you on that but it does bother me that males do not shape up since I am a male too. My brother is a shift supervisor in a large factory and he has about two dozen men and a dozen women working for him He states that the women do twice as much as the males and they do it better than the males. If he needs something done right away, he always asks one of the women to do it since he can't depend upon any of the males. If he had his way, he would never hire another male but he would only have women working for him. Other supervisors have told him that the women in their areas outperform the males too.

He now says that women are superior and I have to agree with him.
Sep 24, 2011 10:48 PM
Guest :
I have to agree with the comment about women being the superior sex. It is nice to see a male admit it but it is not surprising to me. I use to think males were superior until my husband (boy friend at that time) showed me that women were the superior sex.

He gave me a book called "The Natural Superiority of Women" It shows solid evidence that women are the superior gender. It starts by showing that every human starts out female but it goes on to say that at one certain stage of development something "goes horribly wrong" and some of us (myself included) end up to be male. In short, we males are a mutation of a female. (Seldom is a mutation good)

One problem is that the last update of this book was in 1999 and since than a lot more has been learned showing women to be even more superior to males than it was thought at that time.

Recently there have been several news items regarding this. Some say males will disappear totally. Others say we will still be around but not really needed. Before machines were invented, males were needed for their muscles for physical work. Now that machines can do all of that, males are not needed as much as we once were.

Now there is a book that can fill in that 21 year gap.

"Man Down" by Dan Abrams

Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else

Someone said that now that women are getting an equal chance, women are surpassing males in almost every area. This is what Abrams said is the reason for this book.

"There’s a lot more evidence now. A lot of the studies from the book are from the last three years. It’s only been in the last twenty or so years, that women have been on a relatively even playing field in terms of work to do many of these studies. We weren’t able to make fair comparisons before, because women were a fraction of the working world. Now we’re see women taking over the majority in many professions. But only recently has there been enough time to look back to compare men versus women and only recently has there been real interest."

Abrams said a vast majority of lead researchers are male, but the broad trend trackers are women. so it may be that males are beginning to wake up and smell the roses that male superiority is history. Actually, males never were superior as women have always been superior to males.

Women have a better sense of smell, taste, and new research is suggesting the fact that women tend to endure pain more makes them more immune to it. It’s the old aphorism, “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Women survive injury better than males do and 77% of those who die in traffic accidents are male. Women have 34 more nerve fibers per square centimeter of facial skin, while men have an average of 17. This brings up sexual pleasure. Women have hundreds of times more nerve endings in their vagina than males have in their penis and as a result a male's orgasm pales to a woman's. A woman feels it in all of her body for several moments and it can be repeated many times in a short time. A male's orgasm consists of a few throbs of his prick and it is over in usually much less than a minute. He usually cannot have another one for several hours. Someone said that it is like Niagara Falls for women, a dripping faucet (no pun intended) for males.

Women live an average of five to eight years longer than males. The reasons for this are both genetic and behavior-based. First of all, women have stronger immune systems, again due to estrogen which aids the fight against disease-inducing enzymes. But women are also less likely to engage in risky behavior. Almost all of the Darwin Award winners are male. Usually 9 or more males kill themselves for each woman who does to get this award.

Women make better doctors. While forty percent of doctors are women, 80 percent of those under investigation for medical misconduct or incompetence are male. In the U.S., there were similar findings. Male physicians were twice as likely to be sued as women


He does list things males are better at: Males are better at parking, they’re better dieters, they have better distance vision, and they read maps better. Males do have larger muscles, so they tend to be better at some sports but women far excel males in endurance sports.

A woman's body can more efficiently process oxygen. When it comes to ultra-marathons—say, a 135 mile race without sleep—women can beat men. Remember the first male that ran a marathon died and when we read about someone dying while playing sports or running a race, it is far more likely it will be a male.

When looking at sex change operations, we will notice that a few hundred males want to become women for every woman who wants to become a male. Still these males would not become members of the superior gender as their DNA would still be male thus keeping them inferior to women.

Even in combat, women are better sharp shooters and if the battle of the sexes every turned into a real war, we males would not have a chance. All the males would all be dead while 3/4 or more women remained alive and unharmed.

It is a given that males need women far more than women need males but lets count our lucky stars that most women still want us around.

With Montagu's book, my husband use to think women had a 80 out of 100 advantage over males. With his last update in 1999 he raised that to 85 to 100. Now with this new book, it looks like women have a 95 to 100 advantage over males and if it keeps up since women have grown so much in the last 20 to 30 years, soon they will have total advantage over anyone that has the misfortune of being born with testicles. My husband also said from what he sees around him, he is glad women are the SUPERIOR gender and MALES are the inferior one.
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