Female physicians paid less than men

Female physicians make less in salary than men, after factoring for speciality, institution, productivity, academic rank and work hours, US researchers say. Dr. Reshma Jagsi of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and colleagues conducted a survey of 2009-2010 recipients of National Institutes of Health career development awards. The analysis included 247 female and 553 male doctors; their average age was 45 years and 76 percent were white. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found the average salary overall was $167,669 for women and $200,433 for men, but the male physicians made $13,399 more than the women -- even after adjustments for specialty, academic rank, leadership positions, publications and research time. Additional analysis suggested the expected average salary for women -- if they retained their other measured characteristics but their gender was male -- would be $12,194 higher if they were men, Jagsi said. The researchers found 34 percent of women and 22 percent of men were in the lowest-paying category, with 3 percent of women and 11 percent of men in the highest-paying category. In addition, 10 percent of women held administrative leadership positions versus 16 percent of the men. Women had fewer published works -- average, 27 in women and 33 publications in men -- and women worked 58 hours a week versus work 63 hours for men.