Women earn $2 million less than men as doctors over a 40-year career, according to a new study

Female doctors are paid significantly less than their male co-workers, a wage gap that totals at least $2 million over the course of a 40-year career in medicine, according to a new study. 

The study, published Dec. 6 in Health Affairs, used survey data from more than 80,000 physicians throughout the United States, collected between 2014 and 2019. It is the first analysis to quantify the long-term impact of the gender pay gap that exists in medicine, the New York Times reports. 

"These are some of the most highly trained individuals in the entire world, and we're still observing an enormous pay gap between them and their male colleagues," Dr. Christopher Whaley, the lead author>What's driving the pay gap in medicine 

The researchers say that many of the issues fueling this gender pay gap are the same across other industries: hiring discrimination, gender bias and lack of salary transparency, among others. 

However, there are some challenges specific to medicine, Dr. Ishani Ganguli,>The pandemic has made things worse 

It's clear that the>Changing policies can help close the gap 

Fostering an equitable workplace for women in health care starts with encouraging transparent conversations about salaries with co-workers and hiring managers then, building more transparent processes around wage increases and salary negotiations, Ganguli suggests. 

"Rewarding doctors only on the number of services or procedures they perform often undervalues female work," she explains. "We need to experiment with other models – like adjusting pay for patients that need a lot of care, versus patient volume – and pay closer attention to how different pay structures affect the wage gap."

Increasing paid family leave and better supporting new moms upon re-entry into the workforce, such as offering on-site daycare or flexible work schedules, can also help mitigate this gap, Gebhard says.

"These challenges existed long before the pandemic, and they will continue to exist after," she says. "We all have to work together to improve medicine, to make it a fair and equitable profession for all."