These findings imply that over the course of a career, female US physicians were estimated to earn, on average, more than $2 million less than male US physicians after adjustment for factors that may otherwise explain observed differences in income, such as hours worked, clinical revenue, practice type, and specialty.
The pay gap for women physicians starts during their first year of practice and only gets wider over their career.
Women physicians of color see an ever greater pay disparity.
Gender discrimination is systemic and takes many insidious forms.
[Shikha Jain], a practicing hematologist and oncologist, said that when she was interviewing for jobs earlier in her career, a male interviewer asked her if she was married. When she replied that she was, she said, he followed up with, âDoes your husband work?â
âI said, âYes, heâs a physician,â and his response was, âWell then, it doesnât really matter how much money you make, because you have a husband who is bringing home money as well,ââ said Jain, who is also an assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology at the University of Illinois Cancer Center in Chicago.
And lest people think this doesnât happen anymore. D1 reported she was asked the exact same question when she was interviewing for physician jobs last year.