Pay Equity in Healthcare from a Legal Perspective

by Renée Bacher •

Woman’s View of the Playing Field

Kathleen L. Yaremchuk, MD, MSA, chair emeritus at Henry Ford Health and past president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, says the path to pay equity in medicine remains challenging, with institutional barriers that begin early and run deep, but that there are solutions.

“I think it is so important that institutions that have institutional human resources departments evaluate faculty salaries annually for any disparities,” she said. “I had a department chair tell me recently that he pays women in his department less and that they don’t care. That’s not acceptable.”

One major factor in these disparities is opportunity distribution in a specialty where men still substantially outnumber women. “Men have more opportunities to collaborate, participate in clinical trials, and subsequently experience increased opportunities to publish,” Dr. Yaremchuk said. “Otolaryngology is still composed of mostly men who are friends with individuals like themselves. People often feel more comfortable with those they know socially, and that allows increased collaboration and exposure for research and publications.”

The problem extends beyond just publications and research. Institutions often undermine women’s contributions while failing to recognize their substantial service work. “The departmental responsibilities that female otolaryngologists are given often are DEI and wellness initiatives. When it’s time for promotion and increases in salary, these are not roles that are valued.” Dr. Yaremchuk added that in academic medicine, even going back 10-20 years, there are still relatively few female full professors of otolaryngology compared to the number of male full professors.

Despite these challenges, Dr. Yaremchuk emphasizes that change is possible, but it requires active engagement and advocacy. This includes female otolaryngologists with seniority mentoring other women otolaryngologists and people of color, as well as male otolaryngologists stepping up as allies.

“It’s difficult to deal with pay disparities, but it’s also illegal and it needs to stop,” Dr. Yaremchuk said. “If we are not willing to talk about this, nobody is going to know about it, and things are not going to change.”