Orthopaedics and the gender pay gap: A systematic review

Gender pay gaps are present in a wide range of industries, with the medical profession being no exception. The aim of this systematic review was to analyse the peer-reviewed literature to identify whether there is a gender pay gap in orthopaedics.

A systematic review was conducted by searching the following databases: MEDLINE, Health & Medical Collection, Nursing & Allied Health Database, Publicly Available Content Database, Consumer Health Database and Healthcare Administration Database. Original research papers pertaining to the earnings of male and female orthopaedic surgeons were included for review.

Of 745 papers acquired through the database search, 12 were eligible for inclusion. These were published in the USA, Canada and Taiwan. 6 looked at the relationship between sex and annual income, 4 studied industry payments, one analysed hourly earnings and one compared payments per case between males and females. Men were found to earn significantly higher annual incomes than women, even when confounding factors such as rank, practice setting and subspeciality were accounted for. Men also receive significantly higher payments from industry, and earn more per hour than women.

This systematic review has demonstrated that there is a gender pay gap in orthopaedics, with women commonly earning significantly less than their male colleagues. The reasons for this, however, remain unclear, and deserve further investigation. It is incumbent upon orthopaedic departments, healthcare providers and orthopaedic associations to raise awareness and ensure that men and women are paid the same for equal work.