Study says women doctors paid less than men — and liberal cities are some of the worst culprits

A new study conducted by Doximity, a social media organization for medical professionals, has found significant pay gaps between male and female doctors in metropolitan areas across the country, including in the United States’ most liberal cities.

The Doximity study is based on survey data collected from 36,000 full-time, licensed physicians who practice at least 40 hours per week. The data was collected from 2014 to 2017, and according to the report issued by Doximity, the researchers controlled for “differences in specialty, geography, and other provider-specific factors that might influence spending … a multivariate regression with fixed effects for provider specialty and .”

The pay gaps in the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas covered in the survey data ranged from 33 percent to 19 percent.

The five cities with the highest pay gaps are Charlotte, N.C. (33 percent), Durham, N.C. (31 percent), Orlando, Fla. (30 percent), Pittsburgh, Penn. (30 percent), and Bridgeport, Conn. (29 percent).

The five cities with the lowest pay gaps are Sacramento, Calif. (19 percent), Minneapolis, Minn. (20 percent), Portland, Ore. (21 percent), Rochester, N.Y. (21 percent), and Phoenix, Ariz. (21 percent).

Cities on Doximity’s list of the highest gender pay gaps include both conservative and liberal cities, but the clear majority of the cities were ones that went strongly in favor of both President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. Among the 25 cities with the highest pay gaps are Chicago, Ill. (27 percent), Detroit, Mich. (27 percent), Los Angeles, Calif. (26 percent), New York, N.Y. (27 percent), Seattle, Wash. (27 percent), and Washington, D.C. (27 percent).

In an article by STAT News, Dr. Suzanne Harrison, the president of the American Medical Women’s Association, said the gender gap in medicine remains “a very real problem.”

“This is unfortunately still a very real problem,” said Harrison. “Women are less comfortable negotiating right out of residency. They haven’t had the training to feel comfortable in that role of asking for more.”