Are female physicians leaving money on the (operating room) table? BY KAREN COYNE, CFP(R)
T
he studies don’t lie. Female physicians – while representing nearly half of new medical school graduates – earn far less than their male counterparts. In 2013, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported a $56,000-a-year difference, while the U.S. Census Bureau same year found that female physicians received $140,036 per year compared to a $202,533 median income for men.
Why Women Doctors Earn Less The wage gap can be explained partly because women are more likely to take time off for family, choose lowerpaying specialties, and may work fewer hours than men.
But JAMA found that even within the same specialty and adjusted for working hours and seniority, male doctors took home $12,000 more per year. Over the course of a 30-year career, this disparity costs women doctors a whopping $350,000! So what is causing women to earn less? And what can be done about it?
1. Women need to become better negotiators. Women generally don’t feel comfortable asking for promotions or for more money from their employers, business partners or patients – and it could stem from a relative lack of confidence compared with their male peers. March 2017 | arizonaphysician.com
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