The Work-Family Role System and Physician Productivity

Gender differences in married physicians' productivity, measured as total hours devoted to all professional activities per week, are analyzed in a national sample of young obstetrician-gynecologists. Attributes of the physicians'families (including the number of children, the work role of the spouse, and involvement in household responsibilities) are considered in relation to professional productivity. Married men work 7.54 hours more per week than married women, although both men and women work over 60 hours per week on average. Accounting for family role variables and practice characteristics does not eliminate the effect of gender on hours worked. Family variables are more predictive of women's hours worked than of men's. Decomposition of the mean gender difference in hours worked shows that the largest component of the sex difference is attributable to the different effects of family variables on men and on women, rather than to the different distributions of men and women on the family variables.