Is there equal pay in healthcare? Not if you are a doctor

Last year, for the latest release of data from its annual survey of hourly earnings, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) announced a continued closing of the pay gap between men and women in the United Kingdom. By April 2011, the difference in median hourly earnings between men (£13.11; €16.40; $21.10) and women (£11.91) in full employment stood at 9.2% (of men’s average pay)—a drop of one percentage point compared with April 2010.1 2 At this rate, by 2021 women can expect to be on a par with men—a mere 51 years after the Equal Pay Act passed on to the statute book.

Unfortunately, a change in methods led to the ONS publishing revised figures in March 2012, The change increased the 2011 gender pay gap to 10.5% and makes comparison with …