Women in high-income medical education positions still paid less than men

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/ehs-wih050615.php

Public Release: 6-May-2015
Elsevier Health Sciences

The existence of gender-based wage gaps in many occupations continues to be a hot-button topic in social and political debates. While much attention has been focused on medium- and lower-wage positions, some studies have shown that wage disparities extend to high-wage, high-prestige positions. According to a new study published in The American Journal of Medicine, women who serve as directors of internal medicine residency programs are paid less than their male counterparts.

"Despite the increased percentage of women faculty in U.S. academic medicine, disparities in achievement still exist," according to lead author Lisa L. Willett, MD, of the Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham. "The disparity exists regardless of region, program type, academic rank, general internal medicine specialty, age, or years of experience. In addition, we found that the gap in salary has not narrowed over the past five years."

Salary data was divided into $25,000 increments and the mode, or most likely, salary was $200,000 to $225,000 for men and $175,000 to $200,000 for women. Even after controlling for academic rank, career path in general internal medicine, and age, the differences remained. The authors also found that these differences have persisted since at least 2008.

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