“This descriptive study does not try to fully adjust for potential factors that might contribute to these disparities but still it shows that women and men in very similar fields—doing research or teaching young physicians—have huge differences in their salaries,” says Dr. Barbara Turner of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
“It matters to patients because pay inequities lead to distrust of the employer, a loss of morale, feeling undervalued, and may lead women just to drop out of the field,” Turner, co-author of an accompanying editorial, says by email.2 “However, we desperately need them in areas that men do not deign to enter such as primary care and teaching roles plus women are half of the trainees in medical schools, so it is in the public’s interest to be sure that they are careers are rewarding and sustained.”
Reference
- Read S, Butkus R, Weissman A, et al. Compensation disparities by gender in internal medicine. Ann Intern Med. 2018 Aug 7.
- Saunders MR, Turner BJ. Unequal pay for equal work: Where are we now? Ann Intern Med. 2018 Aug 7.
