A study of women salaries in healthcare

While nobody denies the existence of a payment gender gap between women and men, it is also true that progress and evolution is visible with the naked eye in this regard. Healthcare is one of the fields that presents with very interesting statistics and situations. More and more women are occupying today some medical specialties, traditionally linked to men.

A recent study published by the BMJ last year shows that female surgeons are more competent than their male counterparts. In fact, patients of female surgeons tend to have lower death rates, fewer complications and lower read missions to the hospital a month after their procedure, compared to patients of male surgeons.

Nevertheless, the issue of women’s payment still stands: what’s the status of women’s salaries in healthcare? Today, we will present you with a short study of women salaries in the medical and health fields to see how things are and what things we still need to improve in the future. In order to do so, we chose three healthcare specialties.

1. Nurse Anesthetist

The nurse anesthetist salary is one of the highest ones in the field, amounting to a yearly salary of more than $160,000 in the U.S. These nurses specialize in administering anesthesia, monitoring their patients’ vital signs, and monitoring patients’ recovery from induced anesthesia. Among their other tasks, we can count the assistance of the primary anesthetist, as well as the assistance offered to surgeons, dentists, and other physicians.

This is just an average, as sources other than the Bureau of Labor Statistics say that seasoned professionals will take home about $190,000 per year, without bonuses and profit sharing. What is more important, however, is that nurse anesthetists’ across the U.S. and other English speaking countries report high levels of professional and personal satisfaction.

2. Gynecologist

This challenging field of medicine also witnessed profound changes in terms of distribution over the past years. The proportion of females in ob-gyn practice in 2017 (58.7%) is now comparable with that in pediatric practice and is much higher than any other group of active surgeons and all active physicians. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the percentage of female ob-gyns is expected to constitute approximately 66% of all ob-gyns in the next 10 years. However, how about these professionals’ salaries?

Gynecologists’ salaries are some of the highest salaries in healthcare. A gynecologist working in the US earns more than $200,000 per year – the highest payment registered in the English-speaking countries. According to PayScale, beginner gynecologists start with about $130,000, but can reach up to $300,000 after 15 or more years of experience. However, this is an extremely challenging and risky job, and many Ob/gyns risk burnout and other issues throughout their careers.

3. Surgical Technologists

Most surgeons are men, still, and this has little to do with skills or talent, but more with tradition: since the dawn of time, men went to wars and had to learn to treat their wounded on the battlefields. Coming back home, they kept on with the convention. However, as we saw above, things are about to change.

Moreover, surgeons, be they men or women, need plenty of surgical technologists and this is one of those jobs that few people know about.

Surgical technologists are OR technicians, who assist in surgical operations, prepare operating rooms, help doctors during surgeries, and arrange the equipment. Most surgical technologists work in hospitals, and need only postsecondary certificate or associate degree. They are responsible for preparing, selecting, and maintaining any and all surgical equipment, and must also be able to clean and maintain a variety of surgical tools. They spend all their time on their feet and on call.

As surgical technologists’ salaries are concerned, they are not high. However, the BLS projects jobs in this field to grow at the faster-than-average of 12 percent through 2026, making it a very desirable job for young women who need a healthcare career boost. In fact, statistics show that an increasing number of women will occupy this job in the future.

Wrapping up…

Women are a force to be reckoned with in the healthcare industry and the visible increase in their salaries and in their numbers and job opportunities proves the payment and gender gap closing will happen sooner than predicted. As a final word, we want to wish all these ladies all the luck in the world in their current and future careers as care givers.

Thanks to Jennifer Clarke, Chief Content Editor & PR
Healthcare Salaries Guide
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