Women Physicians Lower Earning Caused By Discrimination?
Introduction
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) women physicians make 78.9% of what men make (BLS, 39). Medical is not an isolated sector where women earnings are less than men for doing same work. Women in general in US make 80% of what men make (Blau, Ferber, and Winkler, 196). The gap could potentially be due to discrimination against women. Employers are reluctant to hire women at childbearing age. They wrongly think that women with children become less productive.
The factors that determine a person wage are human capital, occupation etc. Since we are looking at only a specific field of physicians, we can look at the effects of these factors on men and women physicians earning gap. Human capital for both genders is same at the beginning, but due to the house responsibilities women with children work fewer hours, which could decrease their human capital overtime. The gap may be because of the discrimination against women physicians. We will look at different potential reasons for the earning gap beside discrimination such as the share of gap in women decision to tradeoff between career and work, the gender wage gap, explained and unexplained gap, human capital, and feedback effects.
Earning gap due to Tradeoff between Family and Career
Women who are married and have children are joining the labor force in increasing numbers, especially one with college degree (Sasser, 478). They are as ambitious as men, but sometime they have to find a balance between work and family responsibilities. The obstacles to women full participation in the labor force are due to the labor market functioning through old customs where men were considered breadwinner and women...
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...ht not be welcome because the ratio of men disproportionately more than women. Women also do not negotiate as men do which also contribute to the earning gap. The labor market still functions on traditional system which fits only men. The fair labor market would only work when employer come up with flexible schedule for working mothers.
Works Cited
Blau, Francine D., Marianne A. Ferber, and Anne F. Winkler. The Economics of Women, Men, and Work, Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2006. Pages 193-202, 240-246.
BLS website, Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, Household Data. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat39.htm. Accessed in May 2014.
Alicia C. Sasser, Gender Difference in Physician Pay: Tradeoff between Career and Family, The Journal of Human Resources, 2005, Pages 477-502
Why do women still earn less than men? : Monthly Labor Review. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2017, from
Department of Labor (2016) also published research that showed women only earn $87.90 per every $100 that males make in the nursing profession. This information was gathered involving men and women with the same amount of training and experience that do the same job in the same setting. According to Healey and O’Brien (2015), “Women… are also limited by the glass ceiling, or the discriminatory practices that limit opportunities to rise to higher levels in their careers, qualify for promotions, and earn higher salaries” (p. 342). This glass ceiling could be the undeclared reason that women are not making as much as men who are doing the same tasks each
Over the course of the last century women’s total labor force participation has increased from twenty percent to sixty percent (Power, 2003). Today women are also receiving higher compensation for their work relative too men. Blau, Farber, & Winkler (2010) found that “the gender earnings ratio for each group increased substantially starting in the 1980’s.” Although there is still a considerable wage difference, the growing wages for women relative to men help explain why the demand for men has decreased, because the higher pay is facilitating them towards dependency. Historically, financial success is a typical trait in men that is in high demand in the marriage market, because it correlates over to providing for a family. Since financial success is in high demand it commands a high price (Braunstein, 2013). The ample increases in w...
In the workplace environment it is a known fact that women are passed over for higher positions that would allow them to earn higher wages. Author of “Workplace Gender Discrimination and the Implicit Association Test" Jo- Ann Kadola stated, “Women earn 18 % less per hour than men working the same job, with the same title, with the same credentials even when a woman has a higher education.” (Kadola23) This is known as the gender gap, it happens in all occupations whether in management, directors or any high level position. Overall men and women never earn the same pay for the same job. This is known to be a worldwide fact. On every job women are always asked to prove or provide credentials for a job that men are able to obtain without proof. Kadola also stated, “Women have to show skills more often, they are required to take or be more responsible than men.” (Kadola24) Men are generally respected more. Their opinions hold more value. Men tend to have more freedom in making decisions. When it comes to merit raises they will receive a higher percentage based on the fact that they are men. When women enter the workplace it is a perceived notion that she will get married and start a family. Therefore a working mother is looked down upon based on the fact she is no staying home caring
The war in pay inequity in the United States has been raging since the 1940s. This paper is focused on the pay differences among men, women, and mothers and why it exists. The government has made strives to close the income wage gap between men and women, however it still exists and must be dealt with. Among women, deciding to bear children has greatly impacted earnings potential, retirement, and career choices. As more women decide to go to college and earn degrees, there is still a disparity in income in the labor market. Forty percent of the pay gap that exists cannot be explained by occupation, race, or experience.
The IWF has found that when women take leave for their family, men are able to gain experience and therefore more earnings (Cooper). According to Lydia Frank from the Harvard Business Review, “...the largest pay gaps existed between married mothers and fathers who tell us they prioritize family at least 1-4 times per year. No pay gap existed between single men and women without children who said they never prioritize home/family over work.” The causes of the gender pay gap can be easily fixed if the government takes
Women are more than half the work force and are graduating at higher rates then men and continue to earn considerably less then men. There are several contributing factors to the gender wage gap. Women experience gender discrimination in the work force even though it’s been illegal since the Equal Pay Act in 1963. One of the challenges for women is uncovering discrimination. There is a lack of transparency in earnings because employees are either contractually prohibited or it’s strongly discouraged from being discussed. Discrimination also occurs in the restricting of women’s access to jobs with the highest commission payments, or access to lucrative clients.
Another disturbing fact in gender discrimination in the work force is that women who are more likely to be married or have children are more likely to be a low earner and work fewer hours on the ...
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2013, February). Women in the Labor Force: A Databook. Retrieved from BLS Reports: http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2012.pdf
Especially mothers in America are at an economic disadvantage. With raising children as private responsibility and no net support from the society, the individuals will eventually end up in poverty. There are many countries that have adjust to the massive growth of women in the workforce over the past century by creating public policies to help accommodate work and family obligations. This paper will incorporate scholarly sources from Crittenden, Hays, Schulte, Coontz, Folbre, Stone and Lovejoy to back up the argument.
Women had suffered unfair pay in the workforce for years. Statistics have shown that men still earn more than women who have the same degree, education, and qualifications. Women are the main focus for the uneven and unequal share of low-wages in the United States. However, women have additional responsibilities from men that keep them out of the workforce longer which in return leads to discrimination. This research will introduce problems, solutions, and prove that there are alternatives for women.
It is very important to be concerned about the issue because it is constantly increasing throughout the United States. It upsets me that women are paid less than men because women have the same ability and work ethic as men do, but they are looked at differently. According to AAUW, women make 77 percent of what men make. This rate hasn’t changed since 2002 (Hill, 2013). Statistics show that women will never make as much as men due to the thought of never being comparable to men (Williams, 2013).
Today in the United States, men make more than women in various sectors, including education and other trades favoring women workers. The gap gets bigger when comparing the wages earned by men to those of women in jobs favoring men workers such as construction or other physically demanding jobs. Women are less likely to work those jobs, therefor; men have the advantage of having more experience and get paid better. In addition, employers would rather hire a man instead of a woman because they believe that a man will be able to sustain the difficulty of the job and work longer hours which crate a disadvantage for women because they are unable to gain experience and become skilled in that certain field. Gender pay gap based on this information is explained as the result of the discrimination of employers toward the feminine sex in terms of pay, which discourage them to work certain jobs leading to create a bigger gap due to the lack of
Discrimination for women in the workforce in the 1900’s were fewer than 25% of those who participated in the labor market. But in today’s time the percent has risen to around 75% and is still growing. As many women were affected in the workforce by prejudice. One in four women go though discrimination during the workforce process at least once during her life. Unlike men women are more likely to accept a lower income job because they have a house to clean, and also a husband and family to take care of. A fact is known that all women will make less over their lifetime then men will. More women are encouraged to follow the stereotypical career path such as nursing and teaching then doing construction work or even being a truck
...ld. Women are most often stereotyped as only being nurses or other lower-end health professionals. There is a huge difference between the percent of males and the percent of females when it comes to more advanced medical fields. A study conducted by Reed and Fischer found that women are not promoted at the same rate as men in medical fields. They feel that women are under-represented in higher medical positions. The CEJA found that there is a large difference in salaries between men and women. Studies show that the average female physician earns 34 percent less than her male counterpart. Female physicians are more likely to earn a relatively low income and are less likely to gain a relatively higher income. For example, while 19 percent of female physicians earned less than $60,000, only 7 percent of male physicians earned less than that same amount (CEJA, 1994).