Inside Medical Marriages

Abstract

Recent research indicates support for a meritocratic view of the persistent gender gap in physician incomes: Young male physicians continue to outearn young female physicians because they are located in more lucrative specialties and practices and work longer hours. Using a sample of 321 physicians married to physicians, regression analyses are conducted to examine the direct and indirect effects of gender on income. Although traditional human capital variables and structural labor market variables explain part of the income gap, family context variables explain much and call attention to the importance of the work-family interface in studies of physician income. Despite similar human capital investments and labor market locations, women married to physicians tend to do family, and men married to physicians tend to do career. The findings challenge a meritocratic view and suggest a closer look at the gendered assumptions of the institutions within which physicians reproduce and labor.