This module is intended to increase awareness of the persistent and well-documented disparities in compensation and career advancement that women physicians face across clinical practice, academic medicine, and healthcare leadership. Despite comprising the majority of medical school graduates, women remain underrepresented at every rung of the academic and organizational ladder — and continue to be paid significantly less than their male counterparts at every stage of their careers. These inequities are not the result of individual choices or effort gaps; they are embedded in institutional structures, promotion criteria, compensation models, and workplace cultures.
This module aims to equip participants with the knowledge, language, and practical tools to understand these systems, advocate effectively for themselves and their colleagues, and work toward institutional accountability and change.
Key Goals
Build awareness of the scope and persistence of the gender pay gap in medicine, including how it originates at the point of hire and compounds over a career.
Examine the structural, cultural, and institutional factors that slow or stall promotion for women physicians — and distinguish those that can be changed at the individual level from those requiring systemic intervention.
Develop practical, evidence-based strategies for negotiation, sponsorship, and institutional advocacy that support equitable compensation and career advancement.
Understand the scope and drivers of the gender pay gap in medicine, including how compensation disparities begin early in careers and widen over time.
Identify structural and cultural barriers to promotion in academic medicine, and examine how promotion criteria and processes disadvantage women.
Explore the role of mentorship, sponsorship, and professional networks in advancement — and understand why sponsorship in particular is essential for closing the promotion gap.
Develop individual and institutional strategies for salary negotiation, pay transparency, and equitable compensation practices.
Identify concrete actions that women's support groups, departments, and institutions can take to advocate for systemic change in promotion and salary equity.
The following resources serve as the core materials for this module, ranging from scoping reviews to practical management guides:
Objective 1: The Scope and Drivers of the Gender Pay Gap
Objective 2: Structural Barriers to Promotion
Objective 3: Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Networks
Objective 4: Negotiation, Salary Transparency, and Equitable Compensation
Objective 5: Advocacy and Systemic Change
Designed for personal journaling or pre-meeting preparation.
Your Salary and Promotion Auditour Intersectional Experience
Designed for RAFT meetings, subdivided by module objectives.
General Discussion Questions:
When you hear the statistic that the physician gender pay gap is now 26% — approximately $121,000 per year — what is your reaction? Does that match your experience, or does it surprise you? What would it take for that number to feel real and urgent in your institution?
Have you ever negotiated a salary or promotion? What happened — and what got in the way? If you haven't negotiated, what stopped you, and what would make it easier?
How transparent is compensation in your practice or institution? Do you know what your colleagues earn? What would salary transparency change — for better or worse?
What does your institution's promotion process look like? Who decides, and what criteria are used? Have you ever seen a colleague passed over who shouldn't have been, or advanced who shouldn't have been?
Objective-Specific Discussion Questions
Objective 1: The Scope and Drivers of the Gender Pay Gap
Objective 2: Structural Barriers to Promotion
Objective 3: Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Networks
Objective 4: Negotiation, Salary Transparency, and Equitable Compensation
Objective 5: Advocacy and Systemic Change