Sorting Socks Before Surgery: Younger Women Physicians & Domestic Duties

By Joe Elia

Physician-researchers' use of time shows marked gender differences, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Investigators examined questionnaires sent out to roughly 1000 young (Gen-X) recipients of NIH grants. The questions sought to define how the recipients' time was spent.

Both men and women without children spent comparable amounts of time on domestic duties. However, among those with children and employed spouses, women spent almost 9 hours per week more on domestic duties than men, who spent more time on research. Women were also more than twice as likely to take time off for disruptions of child-care arrangements.

Editorialists counsel that choices are at play in these findings, and that the research career track affords a flexibility that many find attractive. They say that the number of programs with flexible tracks needs to increase and that, in any event, gender differences in advancement and salary "are inexcusable."