
Gender inequality is a serious and pressing topic in every realm of the world today. Women are continuously fighting for fair and just equality in all countries all over the world. Women are facing discrimination most prominently in the work place. Here, women are degraded for simply being women and are treated unfair compared to their male equals. Gender inequality is well displayed in the medical field and healthcare professions. Specifically, the female doctors are currently being paid significantly less, stereotyped against, and even patronized for being women pursuing a career that is perceived to be above their mental capabilities. This inequality not only affects the women that currently have the profession of being a doctor, but it also affects young females who aspire to become doctors, physicians, or nurses. Digging into the depths of the gender gap of the medical specialists’ field of work can surface the true reasons as to why inequality is continuously growing, guidelines can be discovered to help lessen the gap, and it can give insight into how discrimination affects the mental and social health of women. The lives and wellbeing of female medical specialists are being degraded, which causes their livelihood to decline and in turn causes their level of confidence and patient care to significantly decline. Therefore, the gender gap between male and female specialists not only causes harm to the women, but also to us, since we are their patients. 

Among all the types of discrimination that women are facing, the most obvious display of gender inequality upon the medical specialists is the enormous and ever-growing pay gap.  Doctors across the world attend medical school for an extensively long amount of time and then they end up working long, grueling hours. However, there are many rewards for this strenuous work: they are constantly saving and changing lives and are paid a comparatively large salary. However, imagine exerting all of your time and energy into your work and then not being paid equally compared to someone who did the same work as you. That is what female doctors are currently faced with in their field of work. In an article written by Catherine Saint Louis, she refers to female doctors as “Dr. Paid Less.” As this name-calling tactic may sound amusing, it is remarkably accurate. In a study accomplished by Mandy Oaklander, 10,000 doctors were interviewed and examined. When the examination of pay gap was completed and the wage was examined, women were found to be paid eight percent less than male medical specialists. Eight percent accounts for approximately $20,000 in a doctor’s salary. There are 61 different fields of medical specialties and the only field that has women receiving the higher pay is radiology (Saint Louis). Female radiologists are earning approximately $2,000 more than their male counterparts. On the other end of the spectrum, male doctors specializing in cardiothoracic surgery are being paid approximately $44,000 more than women are. The wage gap is favoring men, and there seems to be little adjusting occurring to make a change. The pay gap causes many women to not pursue a career in certain specialties, leading them to specialize in a field of medicine they are not as passionate about. This leads to a decline in the level of patient care because the doctors are not in the field of medicine that their hearts yearn to be in. It leads to a decline in the level of patient care because the doctors lose the strong drive to cure patients when passion is not present. Who wants to visit a doctor who is not truly passionate and confident in their line of work? No one. Therefore, unequal pay not only affects the female medical specialists, but also the lives of their patients.  

The unchanging pay gap is said to be from two factors. The first factor being that women are less likely to be aggressive in their negotiation of their wages. Male medical specialists are more likely to be more demanding in the negotiation of their wages, which results in a higher pay. The second factor is that women are less likely to use outside job offers to negotiate a raise with the current employer. Men are more likely to use outside job offers to persuade their current employers to increase their current pay, which also will result male medical specialists to have higher pay compared to the female medical specialists. However, neither of these factors can morally justify the reasoning behind the pay gap. Women should not have to negotiate for equal pay because equal pay should already be given to the women because they are performing equal work.

The next significant gap that can be seen in the gender gap of the medical specialists’ field of work deals with the numbers and career intentions of the medical school students. Women are equally represented in the numbers of the medical school graduates. Women are entering medical school with the same intentions as the men are: to graduate and become successful, determined doctors. However, upon exiting medical school, women are less likely to become doctors as men are. In a study completed by Carrie Pallardy, the results conclude that 70 percent of all medical specialists are male, even though only 52 percent of medical school graduates were male. There has to be a cause to this decline in the number of women, and it deals with the intentions of the students after graduation.  Women enter medical school with clear, strong intentions of the plans they have for themselves after graduation and the beginning of their career in the medical specialists’ field of medicine. These intentions begin as equivalent to men. However, after graduation, the intentions of the men remain at the same high and strong level, whereas the women’s intentions seem to have taken a decrease, which results in fewer women actively pursuing a career as a medical specialist and the ones who have a decrease in motivation. This discrimination against women is affecting their future. This matters not only to women, but also to everyone who makes a visit to see a doctor because a doctor that lacks confidence and belief in oneself is a doctor that can do harm to a lot of patients. However, on the other hand, a doctor with confidence and a heart full of motivation can save, change, and touch an endless amount of lives. 

Women are facing other forms of discrimination, not including the difference in pay. Those other forms include: differences in research output, judgment on the work-life balance, and career progression. All of these forms result in a severe bias in the workplace for women. The first form deals with the amount of research output women are having in the medical field. Most medical specialists will produce medical journals regarding their research, both experimental and non-experimental. It is shown that the work of men is more likely to be published compared to the work of women. Women medical specialists write only 38 percent of published medical journals (Castro et al.). How are women supposed to stay motivated to share their work when their work is more likely to end up in the trash pile? This causes a decrease in their confidence once again. The reason for this decrease in confidence is simply that they are women. Work should be published because the research is successful and significant, not because the piece of work was written by a man. The next form of bias that women have to deal with is in regards to their work-life balance. In society today, women are still viewed as the “home makers.” Therefore, this leads to the question of are women capable of still being mothers and successful workers? In the work place, female medical specialties are often discriminated against due to the fact that they are responsible for taking care of a family separate from their work. Female medical specialists should not be punished for raising children if they are capable of also maintaining a successful career. Male medical specialists also have families, but they are not treated any differently in the work place because so. For that reason, women should not be treated any lesser for their healthy work-life balance. If men are assumed to always maintain that healthy balance, women should not be perceived any differently. If a woman pursues a career that is the same as a man’s, there should not be any extra judgment towards the woman. When women are expected to write poor research papers or quit work to have children, the moment they decide to go against these expectations they will receive an immense amount of judgment, causing their confidence to decline. Men are praised for writing about their research and having a family outside of their career, so women should be praised also. Praising women, or simply acknowledging their hard work, will help to instill a high level of confidence in women. 

The last form of discrimination that female medical specialists deal with is their slow, almost non-existent career progression. There has been little to no increase in the number of females holding leadership roles. Women enter the medical field as medical specialists and will continue the rest of their careers as that; they are most likely to receive no promotion. The case is different for men. Men enter the medical field as medical specialists, and they are more likely to receive promotions to become chief of surgery, head of a certain department, or other leadership positions. Why are women not obtaining promotions? It is because female medical specialists are simply viewed as the lesser versions of male medical specialists. This is caused by the fact that most women have more emotions than men. Women are more susceptible to becoming emotionally attached to patients; however, this should not be viewed in a negative manner. Emotional attachments can lead to a stronger pursuit of making sure the patient maintains a healthy and stable condition. Therefore, the emotional bond that women make with their patients should be viewed in a positive light and the female medical specialists should be rewarded for doing so. Imagine having a doctor who devotes their whole heart to making sure you are healthy and well. That is how the healthcare system would be if women were treated equally and given the opportunity to prosper. Healthcare would be changed forever. 

There are two ideas on how to end the gender inequality in medical specialties. One idea consists of forcing women to take a stand for their own rights. As women should take a bigger stand in receiving equality, it should not be solely on women to solve this gender gap. However, the next idea involves the men of the medical field. There is a way for the male medical specialists to reduce the gap. A male medical specialist in a higher-level ranking could do so by seeking out a female medical specialist and acting as her mentor. He would guide her and encourage her to pursue a higher level of excellence. This would lead to women having higher levels of motivation because their male role models are acting as a source of reassurance. This method would develop a health care system that is full of talented, driven, devoted, and equal doctors of both genders. 

Female medical specialists are facing a large amount of gender inequality in today’s society. Women are degraded for simply being women. Being a woman means having emotions and feelings, forming a family, and being less aggressive. What being a woman does not mean is being less competent, less intelligent or less deserving. Female medical specialists are working hard to be accepted into medical school, and then working even harder to stay competitive in medical school, and then graduate to become the lesser versions of men. Despite putting in equal work, women are constantly not treated fair. Female doctors face inequality in every area of their professional life. Female medical specialists are paid approximately $20,000 less than male medical specialists. Women also hold fewer leadership positions than men and are less likely to have their medical journals published compared to men. All of these inequalities lead to a major decrease in the women’s confidence, and when their confidence decreases so does their quality of patient care. No one wants a doctor who is unsure and lacks a sense of confidence and strong leadership. To end the gender inequalities that women face on a daily basis, women should stand up for themselves and men should actively seek women to be their mentees. The men could act as a source of guidance and help to reassure the women that they are just as talented, skilled, and deserving as the men are. This high level of confidence would instill a high level of morale throughout the health care system leading to better care for all patients. Not only is ending the gender inequality between medical specialists important for women because they deserve it for their equal work, it is important for everyone. It is important for everyone seeing as though our lives could potentially end up in the hands of an unconfident, weakened female doctor, and no one wants their lives to end in that manner. 
