Career Goal Change in the Medical Field: Gender Differences and the Pay Gap

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Meirow, D.
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	This study analyzes the rates at which students in their undergraduate years alter their career aspirations within the medical field. Additionally, it investigates the causes of this change. Primary data was collected through a survey e-mailed to all Grand Valley State University Allied Health Sciences and Biomedical Sciences majors, while additional personal anecdotes were gathered through one on one interviews. All information was compared along traditional, binary gender lines to determine if differences exist between males and females. This study found, while males and females experience similar overall rates of career goal change, women alter their career goals to professions with lower median pay at greater rates than men. Women’s career goal change was more greatly influenced by a desire for flexibility in work life and concern that family life would conflict with career goals, whereas men’s career goal change was influenced more heavily by not wishing to accumulate debt and pressure from someone they know. Introduction Description of the Problem The educational opportunities for women in all fields have vastly expanded since the passage of Title IX of the Educational Amendments in 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs or activities that receive federal funding (National Women’s Law Center 1). However, women in science, technology, engineering, and math remain underrepresented in educational fields that are pathways to high wage careers (National Women’s Law Center 1). Even though the Equal Pay Act of 1963 ensures equal pay for equal work, research as recent as 2013 makes it clear women are still only paid 77% of what men are paid (Corbett 2). One of the
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1320&context=honorsprojects
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article