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Physician Gender, Physician Marriage and the Supply and Distribution of Medical Services . Ann Boulis. Ideas and Research on Gender and Medical Service Supply & Distribution. Women physicians work less. Women physicians are less likely to live in metropolitan areas.
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Physician Gender, Physician Marriage and the Supply and Distribution of Medical Services Ann Boulis
Ideas and Research on Gender and Medical Service Supply & Distribution • Women physicians work less. • Women physicians are less likely to live in metropolitan areas. • The unique behavior of women physicians stems from their unique approach to work and family.
Key Articles • Cull, WL, HJ Mulvey, KG O'Connor, DR Sowell, CD Berkowitz, and CV Britton. 2002. "Pediatricians working part-time: past, present, and future." Pediatrics 109:1015-1102. • Colwill, JM and JM Cultice. 2003. "The future supply of family physicians: implications for rural America." Health Affairs 22:190-8.
Study Goals • Evaluate prevailing wisdom about women physicians and medical service supply and distribution. • Specifically: • Track trends in work effort and practice location of ALL physicians by gender. • Track trends in the work effort and practice location of MARRIED physicians by gender. • Use logistic regression to consider how spousal characteristics influence the behavior of male and female physicians.
Data and Variables • Sample: 1980, 1990 and 2000 5% Census Samples in the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series • Variables: Physicians are those who self identify and indicate that they have professional level education. • Married physicians are living with their spouse and legally married. • Resident Proxies Excluded
Figure 1: The Percent of Physicians Reporting Employment 1.00 .98 .98
Figure 2: The Average Work Week for Employed Physicians .86 .88 .92
Figure 3: The Percent of Employed Physicians Working <35 Hours Per Week 2.42 2.00 2.00
Figure 4: The Percent of Employed Physicians Working 50+ Hours Per Week .60 .60 .74 .74 .77 .77
Figure 5: The Percent of Employed Physicians in Non-Metropolitan Areas .63 .75 .73
Figure 6: The Percent of Employed Physicians who are Married .76 .81 .82
Conclusions: All Physicians • Employment: • The gender difference in employment is VERY limited. • Most physicians work regardless of gender. • Average Work Week: • The gender difference in average work week is closing slowly for all physicians. • Women’s work week is coming to more closely resemble men’s rather than the reverse.
Conclusions: All Physicians • Long & Short Work Weeks • Between 1980 and 2000, the frequency of ‘short’ weeks changed little for men or women. • The frequency of ‘long’ weeks increased slightly for men and substantially for women. • Location: • Between 1980 and 2000, the gender gap in the odds of rural practice closed somewhat. • Both the percent of men and the percent of women in rural areas declined between 1980 and 2000.
Conclusions: Married Physicians • Spousal Employment: • Women physicians’ work effort is more sensitive then men’s to spousal employment. • Men physicians’ work effort is growing more sensitive to spousal employment. • Spousal Education: • Women physicians’ location is more sensitive to spousal education. • Men physicians’ location is growing more sensitive to spousal education.
Figure 1: The Percent of Physicians <65 Reporting Employment 99% 97% 98%
Figure 2: The Average Work Week for Employed Physicians < Age 65 85% 86% 89%
The Percent of Employed Physicians <65 Working <35 Hours Per Week
Figure 4: The Percent of Employed Physicians <65 Working 50+ Hours Per Week
The Percent of Employed Physicians <65 Living Outside of a Metro Area 61% 76% 74%
The Percent of Employed Physicians <65 who are Married with Spouse Present