If you think being a female doctor means looking sexy and smiling all the time, as well as agreeing to everything your male colleague says, then you are discriminating against more than 880,000 women working in the U.S. medical industry.
Fact: Of nearly 1.1 million doctors of medicine all across the United States, women make up more than 80 percent of healthcare workers (but only nearly 40 percent of executives).
The Gender wage gap and inability to make their way up the career ladder and compete with men in the leadership are only one of many forms of discrimination faced by female doctors in California and all across the United States.
Gender, maternal and pregnancy discrimination in U.S. healthcare
Each week, Los Angeles discrimination attorney here at Rager & Yoon – Employment Lawyers receives at least three calls from female doctors complaining about either discrimination or sexual harassment in the workplace. Given that discrimination against female medical professionals is so widespread in California, our lawyers have decided to check if there is any study or survey on the subject of discrimination against female doctors.
And turns out, there is one. Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco studied the problem of gender, maternal and pregnancy discrimination in the medical industry. In the survey, which was inspired by complaints from women in healthcare on an online forum called Physicians Moms Group, researchers asked nearly 6,000 female doctors a series of questions to find out about the types of discrimination they have to deal with in their workplace on a daily basis.
How female doctors are being discriminated against at work
The survey showed that more than three-quarters of female doctors have been discriminated against at work. Of those who have been victims of discrimination in the workplace, more than 65 percent said they faced gender discrimination, while the remaining 35 percent said they experienced maternal discrimination.
Our experienced discrimination attorney in Los Angeles explains that maternal discrimination can be divided into such subtypes of discrimination as being discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy, taking maternity leave, and breastfeeding. The fact that female doctors are being so commonly discriminated against by their colleagues and employers on the basis of breastfeeding is especially astonishing because breastfeeding is known to be good for the newborns, and medical professionals know it better than anyone else.
What women doctors can do to fight against discrimination at work
Nearly 40 percent of all women employed in healthcare also complained that they are being discriminated against and disrespected by their colleagues. “What counts as disrespectful behavior?” you may be wondering. Our Los Angeles discrimination attorney explains that, according to the survey, disrespectful behavior included refusal to consult with female doctors regarding administrative decisions and being paid less than their male counterparts.
A March 2018 study reported by CNN showed that female doctors in the United States are earning significantly less than their male counterparts. A survey of 65,000 physicians by Doximity showed that women in healthcare earned an average of 27.7 percent less than male doctors in 2017. On top of that, women doctors are less likely to be promoted than their male counterparts, not to mention that the vast majority of executives in the medical history are men.
If you are a female doctor who has been discriminated against or sexually harassed at work, do not hesitate to speak to our lawyers at Rager & Yoon – Employment Lawyers. Schedule a free consultation by calling at 310-527-6994 to determine the best legal recourse in your particular situation.