Blog Archives

Which Specialties Have the Biggest Gender Gaps During Residency? You Will and Won’t be Surprised.

The AMA recently published a short piece based on 2022-23 data culled from their National Graduate Medical Education Census: They evaluated which medical specialties were most popular among male and female candidates who were entering residency. They then extrapolated as to which specialties are going to be increasingly female- versus male-dominated.

Female-dominated specialties included obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics/psychiatry/child and adolescent psychiatry (combined), pediatrics, allergy and immunology, public health and general preventive medicine, and dermatology.

I wasn’t surprised that pediatrics or obstetrics and gynecology were female-dominated, but I found it interesting that dermatology – which is so well remunerated – has more women residents than male residents. Historically, women were relegated to lower paying fields.

Male-dominated specialties included orthopedic surgery, interventional radiology, neurological surgery, diagnostic radiology, and urology.

The AMA reports that specialties that offered a near equal balance of men and women in residency included neurology, general surgery, and psychiatry. Again, as someone who trained in the late 1990s, it’s a joy to hear that general surgery is now a well-balanced field in terms of gender. On the whole, when the AMA included specialties, subspecialties, and combined specialties, they report that women account for 48.2% of trainees.

For more details, you can check out the AMA piece here.

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Study Shows Women Earn $2 Million Less Than Men in Their Careers as Doctors

A survey of 80,000+ physicians estimated that women make 25 percent less than their male counterparts over a 40-year career, according to a New York Times article. The troubling findings were published in a paper in Health Affairs. Of note, factors like specialty, type of practice, and patient volume were controlled for. Had they not been, one of the authors said, the discrepancy would have doubled. The salary gap starts at the beginning of women’s careers and then only worsens.

According to the Times article, the pay gap is wider among healthcare practitioners than among those in computer and engineering jobs. Considering that, women pre-meds who are on the fence about a career as a doctor have every right to seriously consider another profession…

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Physician Salaries, Compared by Specialty

Here’s a very interesting Medscape piece (with clear graphics) on current physician compensation, compared by specialty.

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:

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