Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

News

New male doctors earned 17% more than female doctors in US in 2008

BMJ 2011; 342 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d798 (Published 07 February 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;342:d798

Rapid Response:

One small positive...

Along with many other people, I was horrified but not surprised by
Roehr's article that male doctors in the US are still earning more than
females. However I was encouraged that there was one small positive to
take away from it, which was Roehr's elimination of the phrase 'woman
doctor'.

This archaic phrase is still frequently being used in the workplace
and aside from being grammatically incorrect (woman is not an adjective),
the way in which doctors must be male unless specified otherwise is an
assumption that I hope will soon discontinue.

Until then, I will continue on my own local mission to abolish the
phrase by referring to males who use it as 'man doctors'.

Competing interests: No competing interests

10 February 2011
Sophie C Tomlin
F2
University Hospital of Wales