Family Life The average pregnancy lasts for roughly nine months, whereas the average amount of time it takes for one to get a bachelor’s degree, a medical degree, and successfully complete both a residency program and fellowship program can take up to fifteen years in total (Greenwood). It is …show more content…
While it was reported that 40 weeks of maternity leave led to the lowest number of neonatal deaths (Ruhm), in the United States, employers are allowed, but not required, to offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for special circumstances such as childbirth (Gilpin). However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 15 percent of Americans are actually offered the paid parental leave (Gilpin). In the unlikely event that they are given this option, female physicians still find themselves taking only about 6.5 weeks of maternity leave (Fang). That is just a little more than half of the time that they were given. Why are these women leaving their newborns at home and going back to work so …show more content…
Subsequently, many either work shorter full-time hours or simply work part-time in an effort to get the best of both worlds. This is seen especially among young, female physicians who tend to seek more flexibility in their jobs in order to best to fulfill their childrearing roles (Sobecks et al.). This difference in cumulative work hours may be one of the reasons for the controversial wage gap that currently exists between male and female doctors. Male physicians make 13 percent more than women at the beginning of their careers and 28 percent more just eight years later (Esteves-Sorenson & Snyder). While this gender-based disparity is extremely important, further exploration of this expands beyond the scope of this