33% of Female Pediatricians Work Part-Time

As we've noted in the past, the growing trend towards greater work life balance is common to all professions, not just law. This recent article in the Boston Globe notes that even as women continue to enter the field of medicine in unprecedented numbers, they are refusing to work the same long hours as do many of their male counterparts. As an example, the article cited pediatrics where 33 percent of female pediatricians work part-time, compared with 4 percent of male pediatricians.

Generally, women tend to cluster in specialties that are more accommodating of women and part-time work, notably pediatrics, psychiatry, and dermatology (female OB/GYN's now also outnumber males, despite the frequency of emergency calls).

Comments

[Elizabeth Hart]

I represent a lot of physicians, physician assistants and nurses. The female physicians would often tell me about their struggle with balancing a busy practice with being there for their children. As attorneys and physicians we don't have the luxury of picking our own schedule. I always have to arrange my schedule according to court appearances and then have to accomodate physicians' schedules. Often I have to meet with physicians at 5 a.m. or on the weekends to accomodate their schedule. Even working part time like this article discusses, it still seems like it would be a struggle for attorneys to balance work and life. We don't get to pick our schedules. Is there any advice for those who represents busy professionals? I have become a distributor for a nutritional beverage called Mona Vie because I have seen physicians quit their practices to be distributors for Mona Vie. It allows them to pick their own schedules and own their own business. Do you think switching careers is the answer to the work/life balance?