Female radiologists earn nearly $1M less than males during a 40-year career
Female radiologists will earn nearly $1 million less than men during the course of their entire careers, a pay gap that ranks within the top five highest among medical specialties.
That’s according to a new income analysis of more than 80,000 full-time U.S. physicians shared in the December edition of Health Affairs. Over a simulated 40-year career, the disparity between men's and women’s pay in radiology (about $900K) is beat only by anesthesiology (nearly $1.1M) , OB-GYN (nearly $1.1M) and orthopedic surgery ($1.5M).
Prior surveys have resulted in similar conclusions, with Medscape reporting female physician specialists, including rads, earn 33% less than their male counterparts.
The authors of this study pointed to policies, such as salary transparency, paid family leave and broader childcare coverage, as potential solutions to chip away at this disparity, which begins early during medical practice.
“The magnitude of these career differences suggests that policies that address underlying causes of gender differences in physician income may have large economic impacts over the course of a career,” Christopher M. Whaley, a healthcare policy researcher at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, and co-authors explained in the study.
Looking through a broader lens, the team found that female doctors as a whole will take home nearly $2 million less than male physicians during their careers, a nearly 25% disparity. This was true after adjusting for factors such as hours worked, clinical revenue, practice type, specialty and other factors.
Practicing radiologists made up about 4.4% of responses collected between 2014-2019, which accurately reflects the specialty’s share of physicians working in the U.S. overall.
You can read the full report here.
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Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.