Female doctors made over $122,000 less than men in 2021

Female healthcare professional standing by windows and reading a digital tablet — Solskin/Getty Images

Doximity just published its annual report that highlights how much physicians make.
Male physicians are earning on average over $122,000 more than their female peers.
The gender wage gap wasn't too different from the year before — 28.2% in 2021 compared to 28.0% the year before.

As the second year of the COVID-19 era comes to a close, a new report shows there wasn't really any progress made in closing the wage gap between male and female doctors this year. Male physicians on average made 28.2% more than their female peers, about the same as the 28.0% in 2020.

Physicians have played a critical role during the pandemic, with many on the frontlines caring for COVID-19 patients. Whether a surgeon, pediatrician, or another medical speciality, the newest report from medical professional networking site Doximity can give some insight into just how physicians are being compensated during this unprecedented time.

Over 46,000 full-time US physicians took the compensation survey between January and October 2021 used in the platform's fifth annual report.

There is a six-figure difference between what men and women earn as physicians, according to the report. Female physicians earn on average 72% of the $435,315 male physicians earn, meaning they're earning over $122,000 less than their male peers.

As seen below, the earnings gap is wider in 2021 than it was in 2017:

According to Doximity, the pay gaps of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are smaller than that of physicians. Natalia Birgisson, MD and director of strategy at Doximity, told Insider physicians can look at these medical professionals to see "what are the job-specific differences" that could potentially explain these smaller pay gaps compared to physicians.

She added other industries making progress for women can also be a helpful resource.

"When we are looking to decrease the gender wage gap or to increase women's voices in the room, we can learn from each other across industries and across roles, across hierarchies to establish best practices in how to move the needle forward," Birgisson said. "And I think that's something that physicians can do as well."

The earnings gap between men and women can add up over a career. "In research published with our partners, analysis of Doximity physician compensation surveys estimated that men earn over $2 million more than women in their careers as doctors," Doximity wrote in its newest report.

Female doctors aren't just earning less. They're feeling burnout after a difficult two years.

According to the Doximity report, in a survey of over 2,000 physicians, a quarter of female physicians said they were thinking about retiring early because of being overworked. That's higher than the 20% of male physicians who said the same.

Birgisson said these results could mean a "call to action for all of us to consider this really valuable healthcare workforce and how we can support them so that they don't keep considering early retirement as their only lever to manage these stressors."

The gender gap may have barely budged, but compensation soared. Doximity found overall compensation for doctors did increase 3.8% from 2020 to 2021. This is higher than the 1.5% increase from 2019 to 2020.

Birgisson said there could be different reasons for this increase like "employment change and retention."

"It's possible this year's increase reflects a catch-up from last year's relatively flat rate, a tight labor market, or a reflection of rising inflation rates in 2021," Doximity wrote in the report.

Read the original article on Business Insider