Gender pay gap in nursing – are male nurses value more?

Overall, the pay gap is concerning. For some reason, I didn’t expect something like this to return up in nursing. In a career dominated by women (in line with 2011 census report, only 9.6% of nurses are men), it really never occurred to me that such a pay discrepancy was real. The results of a recent study published this 12 months show that pay inequality doesn’t only exist in nursing, but is sort of significant.

Here are some highlights from a research letter that checked out two large data sets (a national survey of a sample of registered nurses [1988 to 2008] and the American Community Survey [2001 to 2013]) to evaluate salary trends by gender:

• Salaries for male RNs were higher than those for female RNs yearly, with the general annual difference being $5,148.
• For outpatient care, the wage gap was $7,678; in hospitals it was $3,873.
• With the exception of orthopedics, male nurse practitioners outpace female nurses in all specialties, with the difference starting from $3,792 for chronic care to $17,290 for nurse anesthetists.

Like many others, I find these results discouraging. However, I hope that nurses will likely be encouraged to talk up about their value and have interaction in salary negotiations. I also hope that employers will recognize these inequities and examine pay structures.

This study lacks a solution to this pay gap. Would you wish to share your thoughts on this topic?