Pervasive Inequality in the Medical Profession: The Case of Research Careers

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Gender Inequality at Work

Abstract

While the influx of non-traditional medical students has increased, gender and class inequality persist in medicine's most prestigious domains. Professional purity—work that engages with abstract knowledge rather than clients—remains a key dimension of stratification within professions, yet its role in perpetuating inequality within medicine remains underexplored. This paper shifts scholarly attention from well-studied occupational segregation to imbalances within the medical profession, drawing on Abbott's concept of professional purity to analyze how physician-scientist roles represent medicine's purest and most prestigious work. Utilizing the American Association of Medical Colleges’ Graduate Questionnaire, we examine how gender and class background influence aspirations toward professionally pure research work. Our findings reveal persistent gender barriers: women are consistently less likely to pursue research careers across all measures. Class stratification operates through dual pathways: financial resources enable extended training periods, while having scientist parents transmits occupation-specific understanding of professional hierarchies. Notably, this parental influence operates differently by gender—creating greater advantages for sons than daughters. These findings demonstrate how gender and class stratification persists in medicine's most prestigious domains despite demographic shifts, offering insight into mechanisms that perpetuate inequality within professional fields. This research contributes to understanding persistent inequality within professional fields and informs strategies for promoting equity in medicine's elite domains.

Authors

• Minyoung An, University of Arizona

• Erin Leahey, University of Arizona