Executive summary
The research study examines the gender wage gap and narrows its attention to the healthcare industry. The study reveals a significant salary difference between men’s and women’s hourly wage rates in the health sector. It is also apparent that female physicians receive lower hourly salaries than their male colleagues when age and years of experience are disregarded. The enormous economic discrepancies are attributable to present government policies and legal procedures that impede the establishment of inclusive markets regarding income inequality and inclusive healthcare coverage.
In addition, unpaid nursing care results in discrimination from social institutions and the health sector, which impacts women’s average salaries in the field. In addition, the significant pay discrepancies are attributable to unconscious prejudice, which provides the groundwork for beliefs that claim males are superior healthcare employees versus women. The report closes with suggestions to eradicate enormous salary gaps between men and women in the health industry. They include collective bargaining to support policy implementation, the formation of unions to lobby for fair distribution of unpaid care services, and the introduction of unconscious bias training programs in the health sector.
Introduction
A gender wage gap is a glaring example of gender discrimination in which women are paid less than males for doing comparable work in organizations, enterprises, and companies. Gender-based inequalities in pay have been a subject of intense academic and public attention, eliciting differing perspectives from academic proponents and researchers. Despite deliberate efforts to lessen the disparity in compensation between men and women, there is still a substantial gender pay gap.
The gender pay gap has widened over time, with figures demonstrating a growing wage difference from the early years to the present day. Due to the Great Recession, men’s hourly wages dropped from roughly $27 per hour in the 1970s to below $23 per hour in the mid-1990s (England et al., 2020, p. 6991). Since then, salary has increased to $25 per hour in 2022; despite large swings, the median wages of males in constant 2022 dollars, adjusted for the Consumer Price Index (CPI), have remained $25 per hour.
In contrast, women earned less than males from the 1970s, when the wage was $17 per hour, through the late 1990s, when it was roughly $20 per hour. In addition, the revenue remained stable throughout the 2000s. The median wages of women are predicted to be around $19 per hour in constant 2022 dollars after adjusting for inflation (England et al., 2020, p.6992). Since 1970, the ratio of women’s hourly wages to men’s has increased. In 2022, women will earn 83% of what men earn, a constant based on the 2022 dollar adjusted for the present CPI (England et al., 2020, p.6992). It is evident from the aforementioned statistical data that there is a significant gap between what men and women earn per hour of labor. Consequently, this study tries to solve the gender gap problem in the health industry by providing extensive research results and suggestions.
Findings
Gender Pay Gap in Healthcare
There is a significant difference between men’s and women’s hourly pay compensation rates across sectors, and the healthcare industry is no exception. Considering characteristics such as age and years of experience, female physicians earn an average of $51,515 less than their male colleagues, according to Bishop’s (2022, para 9) survey of more than 10,000 physicians. In comparison to younger medical practitioners, who have an 18% pay disparity, senior female and male physicians have a 37% pay discrepancy (Bishop, 2022, para. 9). In addition, despite an increase in the average wage since 2011, young female physicians continue to earn less than their male counterparts.
Some healthcare areas have reduced the gender wage gap, while others have widened it. For instance, according to Rotenstein and Dudley (2020, para 1), in medical fields such as radiology female ophthalmologists, receive just $0.58 for every dollar made by their male counterparts. In addition, female primary caregivers earn around 25% less per hour than their male counterparts, and female specialists earn 33% less per hour than their male counterparts (Rotenstein and Dudley, 2020, para. 1). This can be identified as discriminatory and yet statistics assert that women’s productivity in such specializations is similar, with females outperforming men in the scope and nature of the care quality they provide.
The health industry’s gender pay gap is primarily divided into managed and uncontrolled pay gaps. In the stable pay gap, women get $0.75 for every dollar men earn, and in the uncontrolled pay disparity, they make $0.97. (Rotenstein and Dudley, 2020, para. 1). Research indicates that both controlled and uncontrolled gender pay discrepancies account for age, education, and years of experience, enabling straightforward comparisons of men’s and women’s salaries in the healthcare industry.
Economic Freedom
In a profession where most technical personnel are women, pay disparities are a severe problem in the healthcare industry. However, women in health professions continue to earn less than males. Current government policies and legal processes have limits that impede the development of inclusive markets regarding income inequality and inclusive healthcare coverage (Blau and Kahn, 2017, p. 790). The minimum wage rules lack mechanisms to maintain pace with the average salaries in the healthcare industry. Additionally, the law excludes the majority of female physicians.
Such laws include the Equal Pay Act, which protects employees across all industries from gender-based salary discrimination. The Act provides overtime pay, holiday pay, leave payment, life insurance, and different types of compensation (Whitehouse and Smith, 2022, p. 520). Nonetheless, the government does not incorporate this legislation in other areas, including the health sector (Blau and Kahn, 2017, p. 792). Integrating these policies into the health sector is hindered by improper enforcement and monitoring of policy mechanisms. Compliance with the minimum wage needs governmental enforcement by labor inspectorates, who concentrate on achieving equal pay for female healthcare employees.
In addition, discrimination and the absence of equal pay protection laws are significant contributors to the increasing wage gap trends. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) outlaws pay discrimination against women. In addition, it permits women to make allegations of discrimination under the Civil Rights Act (Whitehouse and Smith, 2022, p. 523). In prior research, unions have attempted to promote the passage of the EPA to fight societal norms and gender stereotypes that impede women’s access to high-quality medical occupations, resulting in gender segregation. In addition, the absence of effective passage of the Act limits the implementation of measures that promote a work-life balance for female doctors and impedes equitable opportunity for women’s professional growth and medical training.
Unpaid Health Care Activities
Uncompensated care labor is a fundamental component of the economy and an integral element that ties an individual’s well-being to that of their community. People spend daily time caring for their children, preparing meals, and offering nursing services. However, the significance of unpaid care is marginalized on policy agendas, leading to erroneous conclusions on the value of time and changes in well-being resulting from outstanding care. This reduces the efficacy of legislation addressing problems such as gender wage disparities in the healthcare industry.
Uncompensated health care entails various complicated and overlapping tasks that vary based on the kind of treatment delivered to different individuals in different locales. In healthcare, women are mainly responsible for uphill duties, including daily living activities, child care, nursing care, and mental healthcare services (Magana et al., 2018, para. 5). Men, however, do less labor. They are likely to do more flexibly, yet there is a disparity in how men and women are compensated since women often perform heavier uncompensated work. The uneven allocation of nursing care duties between men and women results in gender stereotypes that contribute directly to wage disparity (Magana et al., 2018, para. 5). In addition, unpaid nursing care results in discrimination from social institutions and the health sector as a whole, which impacts the average salaries of women in the field.
In addition, most women employed to give nursing care are low-income employees and immigrants who have left a care gap at home. Unpaid healthcare has permanent effects on both providers and recipients. It affects the social relationships within the family (Magana et al., 2018, para. 5). Additionally, the government influences healthcare providers and the workforce. In addition, unpaid healthcare substantially affects healthcare expenditures, resulting in gender inequity.
Unconscious Bias in Gender Pay Gap
Unconscious biases consist of gender stereotypes and prejudices that people have towards a particular gender but are unaware they do. This belief is prevalent in the healthcare industry since many providers continue to feel that males make superior leaders. In contrast, females are superior carers (Skov, 2020, para. 3). This gender stereotype is so commonplace in the health industry that most health professionals are ignorant of it. In a healthcare setting, unconscious prejudice arises during recruiting and compensation determination, resulting in higher pay for male physicians regardless of other criteria. Women are exposed to more stringent inquiries than males and are considered superior job contenders.
In addition, unconscious prejudice affects the ability of many health companies to comply with regulations and laws about equal pay and advancement, such as the Equal Pay Act. In addition, compensation choices in healthcare are influenced by societal prejudices that associate success and leadership responsibilities with males as opposed to women (Skov, 2020, para. 3). The preconceptions have enormous implications on the evaluation of work performance, with healthcare practitioners being more critical of women’s accomplishment than males.
Besides, the process of employee recruitment and wage recommendations involves two other unconscious biases: the confirmatory bias and the changing standards bias. The confirmatory bias includes logical reasoning towards a particular gender, in which employers are particularly inclined to support initial assessments of a specific gender (Skov, 2020, para. 3). On the other side, the shifting standards bias arises when health care workers change their arguments to favor one gender based on their stereotypical ideas. When health professionals’ judgments are impacted by preconceptions, confirmatory biases, and evolving norms, they are more likely to make erroneous wage pay decisions for women than for women. Therefore, these prejudices significantly contribute to the massive gender wage gap in the health industry.
Conclusion
In summary, there is a significant salary discrepancy between men’s and women’s hourly compensation rates in the health industry. According to the above statistics, female physicians make around $51,515 less than their male colleagues, excluding characteristics such as age and years of experience. By age category, elderly female and male doctors have a 37% wage discrepancy. In contrast, younger medical professionals have an 18% pay gap, with young female physicians earning less than male doctors.
The enormous economic disparities are attributable to present government policies and legal procedures that impede the establishment of inclusive markets regarding income inequality and inclusive healthcare coverage. The minimum wage rules lack mechanisms to maintain pace with the average salaries in the healthcare industry, and female physicians are excluded from the statute’s reach. In addition, unpaid nursing care results in discrimination from social institutions and the health sector, which impacts women’s average salaries in the field.
Recommendations
Collective bargaining to champion the implementation of policies and regulations on equal pay
Advocates and plaintiffs should campaign for the Equal Pay Act (EPA) via collective bargaining to counter societal norms and gender stereotypes that impede women’s access to excellent positions, resulting in gender segregation in the health sector. Failure to pass equal pay laws contributes to widening salary inequalities (Mellow, 2022, para. 5). The Equal Pay Act forbids women’s pay discrimination. Also, women may pursue Civil Rights Act discrimination cases (Mellow, 2022, para. 5). The law promotes women’s work-life balance. Collective bargaining equalizes women’s medical career advancement and training. Collective bargaining champions negotiate contracts with employers to establish compensation, leave, work hours, safety standards, and work-life balance. Collective bargaining aims to raise hourly wages for women in low-paid medical employment, promote pay transparency, evaluate women’s career advancement, and reclassify female-dominated occupations.
Creating unions to advocate for equal distribution of unpaid care services
Unions encouraging the fair distribution of unpaid care services should be developed to promote inclusiveness in excellent care services. The associations would also enhance employment standards, advocate for equal rights for non-standard female health professionals, and use collective bargaining to address the undervaluing of unpaid care services supplied by women. Uneven nursing care obligations lead to gender stereotypes that contribute to unequal remuneration (Leigh and Chakalov, 2018, p. 20). The union’s battle to decrease gender pay discrepancies might include female-dominated sectors and low-paid female health employees. These programs create awareness against employment discrimination and ensure women are appropriately represented in decision-making bodies, reducing wage inequalities in the health industry.
Implementation of unconscious bias training programs in the health sector
Being oblivious to people’s gender eliminates unconscious prejudice. Unconscious bias training may reduce gender prejudice in the health field, notwithstanding its difficulty. Training programs educate health practitioners on how discrimination affects decision-making (Morgan, 2020, para. 2). The training raises awareness of female workplace stereotypes. Programs include audits to identify weaknesses and assist strategy adoption (Morgan, 2020, para. 2). Redesigning programs to avoid prejudice involves talent management assessments, fair recruiting tactics, and balanced allocation of employment tasks among both genders.
Reference List
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