Women who serve as directors of internal medicine residency programs, a critical leadership position in medical education, are paid less than their male counterparts, according to research published in the May 7 edition of The American Journal Medicine.Lead author Lisa Willett, M.D., professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and director of the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program, says these research findings run in concert with other studies that have shown that gender-based wage disparities also are common for women in medium- and lower-wage positions — an issue that remains a hot-button topic in social and political debates.
“Despite the increased percentage of female faculty in U.S. academic medicine, disparities in achievement still exist,” Willett said. “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 were 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.
| “Despite the increased percentage of female faculty in U.S. academic medicine, disparities in achievement still exist. 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.” |
A residency program director plays a pivotal role in academic medicine centers for graduate medical education. GME is responsible for training the nation’s physician workforce, and its importance is reflected in the level of public funding of more than $13 billion per year. Program directors are responsible for the oversight of the curriculum, evaluations, work hours, supervision, fatigue, verifications, scholarship and schedules of more than 110,000 residents and fellows enrolled in U.S. GME programs.
The authors advise that “leaders in academic medicine centers, residency and fellowship directors, and all faculty in medical education need to be aware that the salary disparities cited decades ago still persist in this important population of medical educators. Reporting this information is an important step in addressing the disparity in an effort to improve it. Sponsorship of women without awareness of, and subsequent advocacy for, salary equity is unlikely to correct these disparities.”