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Monday, March 31, 2003Even when salaries are adjusted for all these variables, women still get paid less. Two Dartmouth researchers, writing in the JAMWA, measured the incomes of primary-care physicians between ages 36 and 45 and found that women earned only 60 percent to 85 percent as much as their male counterparts from 1989 to 1998 -- not much different from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' finding that women in the United States earn 76 percent of what men earn. There’s a reason for this. Most doctors are paid on a productivity basis, even when they’re employed. See fewer patients, get paid less. A lot of women physicians make the choice to work fewer hours so that they can meet family obligations. Most married women physicians with families can afford to do that because they have a spouse’s income to fall back on. Those who choose to devote more time to work and see more patients make more money. Then there’s also maternity leave, which again for a lot of us means six to eight weeks without pay (even when we're employed by someone else.) That brings down the average, too. The disparities in income between men and women physicians would probably fade away if unmarried women physicians were compared to unmarried men physicians. Overall, the article overstates the impact of women on changing the face of medicine. We aren’t necessarily more humane and understanding than our male counterparts. We just benefit from the perception that we are. But there were two items in it that just made me laugh: ``It really has been an amazing thing,'' said Leo B. Twiggs, medical director of the University of Miami's Institute for Women's Health. ``They have a uterus and have kids and many want flexible working patterns. Vive la difference!'' Imagine that. They have a uterus and a brain. Truly amazing. And he’s the director of the Institute for Women’s Health! And then there was this statement by a 40 year old woman medical student: ``I didn't know any women in high school or college who thought of being doctors,'' she said. ``It just wasn't done.'' Goodness. I’m 40. I knew several girls in high school who wanted to be physicians. And my college? You couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a woman pre-med student. But then, I wasn’t a music major, like the woman quoted above was. Chances are, you wouldn’t find too many people of either sex even today in music programs who wanted to go into medical school. Not because it “just isn’t done” but because they just have no interest. posted by Sydney on 3/31/2003 06:03:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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