A US physician has sparked a furious backlash after saying the gender pay gap in medicine exists because female doctors “don’t work as hard” as their male counterparts.
Dr Gary Tigges, a Texas-based internal medicine physician, was roundly called out on social media for his comments in the Dallas Medical Journal, which quickly made news headlines across the world.
Responding to the journal’s poll question which asked readers whether they believe a gender pay gap exists between male and female physicians, Dr Tigges from Plano, Texas said:
“Yes, there is a pay gap. Female physicians do not work as hard and do not see as many patients as male physicians… Nothing needs to be ‘done’ about this unless female physicians actually want to work harder and put in the hours.”
Dr Tigges has since publicly apologised for the comments “and the pain they have caused”, saying they were taken out of context.
Responding on Twitter, commentator Nicole Saphier MD wrote: “Oh, Gary. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. I challenge you to compare your “man schedule” to my “woman schedule” any day to see who works more.”
The pay gap in medicine has been a hot topic in the US off the back of recent media reports that female doctors early 64% of their male counterparts’ salaries, and the gulf between male and female doctors’ incomes in Australia has previously been reported by the limbic.
But criticism towards the Texas physician should be redirected to the many medical institutions that perpetuate these “antiquated” views which are all too common in the US, said Dr Esther Choo, Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University and Associate Director of the university’s division of sex and gender in Emergency Medicine.