The Gender Pay Gap for Doctors Seems To Have a Valid Reason. Here’s What That Reason Is.
11:19 AMI was roaming around on the internet when I came across this article titled:
The Gender Pay Gap for Doctors Is Getting Worse. Here’s What Women Make Compared to Men
And I was like, okay so this can go two ways: this is actually a well researched article that shows that women make way less than men because of sexist reasons or it is 🇸🇭🇮🇹🇹🇾 clickbait. And well, you've guessed it... to no one's surprise it turns out to be 🇸🇭🇮🇹🇹🇾 clickbait.
They start the article off by saying:
And continue with comparing numbers between male and female doctors and specialists. And even continue with racial biases. Of course the white male doctor earns more on average than the female doctor and racial pay gap is apparently also a thing, although they don't touch on that subject in the rest of the article.
The paragraph that comes after this is the most important because it reads:
Especially the last part here I find interesting because they literally explain the reasoning why women get paid less. There is no "pay gap". You essentially determined that yourself just by writing that one sentence. The funniest thing is that after this paragraph there is a sentence that says:
How do you mean other factors are likely at play? It is as clear as it is stated: men are more likely to gravitate toward high-paying areas within medicine. That literally seems like it is the main reason. Further in the article it is mentioned that some associate professor of dermatology at Harvard worked on an article about how to close this pay gap. She states that "there's a lot of implicit bias at play". And then gives an example that male colleagues were given better operating schedules. That is the only point that is made. But whether this quote is a personal anecdote or actually based on research is not made clear.
To me it seems that if you want to study gender pay gap between doctors you need to find a male doctor and a female doctor working at the same hospital doing the same job with the same specialties and then comparing their income. When it turns out the female doctor earns less, you need to look at all the variables at play like work times, specialties, and how many patients both doctors have. You can't just say male doctor 1 and female doctor 2 don't earn the same so it is gender pay gap. Do these people even know how proper research is conducted?
Look, I would love to believe in gender pay gaps, but I need to see hard evidence. Every single article I've read, every single research that is being done, just shows that there is bias, and most journalists take this opportunity to make outrageous headlines that are based on thin air. And since most people don't want to read the actual research or article, most people base their beliefs on clickbait titles and that is upsetting. Because if there is an actual gender pay gap we need to do something about it, but bias research like this one seemingly makes it very difficult to take any further research done on the subject serious.
They should've just called the article: The Gender Pay Gap for Doctors Seems To Have a Valid Reason. Here’s What That Reason Is. You're welcome time.com. You're a shitty website anyways with short, poorly researched articles. Don't know why I actually visited your website but alas, guess the clickbait is working.
According to Medscape’s 2019 report, which polled about 20,000 U.S. doctors in 30 specialties, pay for physicians has risen by about 20% for both primary care physicians and specialists since 2015. But increases have not been equal for male and female doctors.
And continue with comparing numbers between male and female doctors and specialists. And even continue with racial biases. Of course the white male doctor earns more on average than the female doctor and racial pay gap is apparently also a thing, although they don't touch on that subject in the rest of the article.
The paragraph that comes after this is the most important because it reads:
In total, male doctors spend about 9% more time with patients each week than female doctors, according to the report, while women spend a bit more time on paperwork and administrative tasks. (That’s important, since a physician’s salary often depends at least partly on how many patients they see.) Women also tend to go into primary care or lower-paying specialties, while men often gravitate toward high-paying areas such as orthopedics, plastic surgery and cardiology.
Especially the last part here I find interesting because they literally explain the reasoning why women get paid less. There is no "pay gap". You essentially determined that yourself just by writing that one sentence. The funniest thing is that after this paragraph there is a sentence that says:
Those disparities explain some of the pay gap, the researchers write, but other factors are likely at play.
How do you mean other factors are likely at play? It is as clear as it is stated: men are more likely to gravitate toward high-paying areas within medicine. That literally seems like it is the main reason. Further in the article it is mentioned that some associate professor of dermatology at Harvard worked on an article about how to close this pay gap. She states that "there's a lot of implicit bias at play". And then gives an example that male colleagues were given better operating schedules. That is the only point that is made. But whether this quote is a personal anecdote or actually based on research is not made clear.
To me it seems that if you want to study gender pay gap between doctors you need to find a male doctor and a female doctor working at the same hospital doing the same job with the same specialties and then comparing their income. When it turns out the female doctor earns less, you need to look at all the variables at play like work times, specialties, and how many patients both doctors have. You can't just say male doctor 1 and female doctor 2 don't earn the same so it is gender pay gap. Do these people even know how proper research is conducted?
Look, I would love to believe in gender pay gaps, but I need to see hard evidence. Every single article I've read, every single research that is being done, just shows that there is bias, and most journalists take this opportunity to make outrageous headlines that are based on thin air. And since most people don't want to read the actual research or article, most people base their beliefs on clickbait titles and that is upsetting. Because if there is an actual gender pay gap we need to do something about it, but bias research like this one seemingly makes it very difficult to take any further research done on the subject serious.
They should've just called the article: The Gender Pay Gap for Doctors Seems To Have a Valid Reason. Here’s What That Reason Is. You're welcome time.com. You're a shitty website anyways with short, poorly researched articles. Don't know why I actually visited your website but alas, guess the clickbait is working.
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