Female physician specialists, including radiologists, earn 33% less than their male counterparts, according to new survey results from Medscape.
The average woman took home $283,000 in this year’s report compared to men’s $376,000, the health news outlet noted on Oct 15. The findings are similar to the wage gap between physicians overall (35%) and fall in line with last year’s 31% disparity.
“In a year marked by uncertainty for most physicians, at least one aspect of the profession remained unchanged: Women’s compensation still lags notably behind that of men,” Leslie Kane, senior director of Medscape Business of Medicine and Mary Lyn Koval, an editorial consultant on the project, wrote in the report.
Despite the pandemic, about two-thirds of both female and male physicians said they experienced no significant financial loss in 2020.
And if female specialists were forced to start their career fresh, 93% of radiologists would choose their specialty again, good for No. 5 overall. Similarly, most female physicians would opt to practice medicine again, with 75% of those working in radiology indicating they would do so.
Women remain prevalent in pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology but account for only one-fifth of physicians practicing in the highest-paying specialties. The latter includes 22% who identify as radiologists, good for No. 24, just ahead of plastic surgeons (20%), general surgeons (20%) and cardiologists (14%).
Medscape surveyed 17,903 female physicians practicing in the U.S. between October 2020 and February 2021. Across more than 29 specialties, about 4% of respondents worked in radiology.
Read more from the survey here.
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.