Erika Escalante

Gender Assignment
Section A02
November 6, 2014
My intended career path is to be a surgeon. I plan to pursue this career because it is
something I discovered was a passion of mine my sophomore year of high school. Whether it
was helping people who were injured or learning about the human body I was 1000% dedicated
to it. There would be nothing else in the world that would make me happier than spend my life
saving the lives of others.
The level of occupational sex segregation in physicians is quite high. Of the 663,639
jobs, men occupy 501,800. In other words, 75% of physicians are men and only 25% are women.
This dissimilarity also boils over into a pay gap. Female physicians earn 64 cents to the male
dollar. The average income for males is $143,593 a year, and females earn $92,616. To put this
into perspective, the national gender pay gap for all occupations has women earning 82 cents to
the male dollar (Glanville, Oct 29, 2014); a devastating difference of 18 cents. Also, today
women make up about 47% of the work force (Glanville, Oct 27, 2014), 27% higher than in
doctors.
There are many possible explanations for the occupational sex segregation in physicians;
it ranges from the history of the profession, the rigorous entrance process, high cost of school,
and lifestyle of doctors. Being a doctor used to be a strictly male profession (at least in the
United States). Historically, women have always been considered the weaker sex and were
though of as not as rational, intelligent, unable to withstand the sight of blood and the trials and
tribulations that came with being a doctor (Wrights & Rogers, p302). Women were banned from

becoming doctors; instead they were encouraged to be nurses or caregivers. Socialization has
presented doctors as being for boys, while girls have been encouraged by society to be nurses
dressed in cute dresses. The toughest part of being a doctor is to be accepted into the profession.
That is, to be accepted into medical school. The career path is extremely long with undergraduate
and medical school being at least 8 years, plus the years of residency. This leads to the lifestyle
of doctors completely revolving around work, leaving any kind personal life on the back burner.
It is exactly this lifestyle that may discourage many women from the field because we live in a
society where woman were (and most still are) the primary parent in charge of taking care of the
kids, and doing most of the household work (Glanville, Nov 05, 2014). And thus why woman
are more likely than men to have work interruptions that may interfere with them taking on such
a demanding profession. A last explanation for the occupational sex segregation could be that
since the cost of attending medical school has been so high it was usually the wealthy that
applied and got in, and studies have shown that wealthy females from affluent backgrounds
arent as worried about pursuing higher careers after college (Discussion, Oct 30, 2014).
The main consequence of occupational sex segregation is the gender pay gap in which
female physicians earn 64% of what males do. In the occupations that were predominantly male
it has been much harder for females to get into the field (Wrights & Rogers, p304). This
segregation led to the pay gap forming in favor of men because they made up almost the entire
workforce; and the occupations that were predominantly male had much higher income rates
than those predominantly female. This could be that being a physician has been highly valued
and respected by society for saving lives, and they were compensated as such. Yet, the exact
reason for the pay gap is still unknown (Wrights & Rogers, p306). In recent years the fight for

women rights and equality have and are decreasing the pay gap, as more women enter the field
are start earning more money.
Growing up I was taught that hard works pays off, and that if you want to accomplish it
you have to work twice as hard as everyone else, because no one is going to hand you someone
unless you work your but off (as clich as that may sound). As a child, this gave me the mentality
that I had to work to break down barrier after barrier from race, economic status, and to gender.
Looking back I see how much socialization shaped what I thought my aspirations should be. For
all the times that I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up my answer ranged from
teacher, mom, princess, or artist. When boys were asked this question they usually answered
police officer, firefighter, superhero, or doctor. Society taught me that my aspirations should be
girly, passive, and weaker than those of males. Television and the media tell girls that falling in
love with prince charming will happen at a young age. Then youll get married and have kids and
the career that you once aspired to will be placed on the less significant back burner. Many girls
do look at marriage as more important than a career, but in our generation, millennials have
grown up with the feminist movement and that having equality with men is quintessential to
being a strong, independent, young woman that can overcome occupational sex segregation and
the gender pay gap. It is this movement that gives women like myself the opportunity to venture
into occupations once dominated by men and start decreasing the gender gap.