Background Female physician-researchers do not achieve career success at the same rate as men. Differences in nonprofessional responsibilities may partially explain this gap. Objective To investigate the division of domestic labor by gender in a motivated group of early-career physician-researchers. Design Nationwide postal survey between 2010 and 2011. Setting United States. Participants Physician recipients of National Institutes of Health K08 or K23 awards between 2006 and 2009 with active academic affiliation at the time of the survey. Measurements Time spent on parenting and domestic tasks was determined through self-report. Among married or partnered respondents with children, a linear regression model of time spent on domestic activities was constructed considering age, gender, race, specialty, MD or MD/PhD status, age of youngest child, number of children, work hours, K award type, and spousal employment. Results A 74% response rate was achieved, and 1049 respondents were academic physicians. Women were more likely than men to have spouses or domestic partners who were employed full-time (85.6% [95% CI, 82.7% to 89.2%] vs. 44.9% [CI, 40.8% to 49.8%]). Among married or partnered respondents with children, after adjustment for work hours, spousal employment, and other factors, women spent 8.5 more hours per week on domestic activities. In the subgroup with spouses or domestic partners who were employed full-time, women were more likely to take time off during disruptions of usual child care arrangements than men (42.6% [CI, 36.6% to 49.0%] vs. 12.4% [CI, 5.4% to 19.5%]). Limitations Analyses relied on self-reported data. The study design did not enable investigation of the relationship between domestic activities and professional success. Conclusion In this sample of career-oriented professionals, gender differences in domestic activities existed among those with children. Most men's spouses or domestic partners were not employed full-time, which contrasted sharply with the experiences of women.

TUDIES HAVE REVEALED GENDER differences in physicians' pay, 1-8 but experts continue to debate the magnitude and cause of these differences. Some evidence suggests that disparities in pay are explained by specialization, work hours, and productivity, 9 leading some to believe that they are justifiable outcomes of different choices made by men and women. Debate persists in part because most studies of physicians' pay have included relatively heterogeneous groups, are now dated, or are limited by lack of information on key factors such as specialty 10 or family characteristics. 11 Given the lack of conclusive evidence to answer whether male and female physicians who do similar work are paid differently in the present day, we sought to determine whether there were gender differences in salary of a relatively homogeneous sample: physicians who were granted prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) K08 and K23 career development awards in 2000-2003 and who continued to work at academic institutions. We focused on this select population to minimize variability in aptitude or motivation as well as in seniority and content of work activities. Consequently, we expected to find little if any gender difference in salary and that any differences observed would be explained by specialty, productivity, or other measured factors. METHODS Data Collection We identified all 1853 recipients of new K08 and K23 awards in 2000 through 2003 using the CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) database. 12 After approval by the Author Affiliations: Departments of Radiation Oncology (Dr Jagsi and Mss Sambuco and DeCastro), Psychology (Dr Stewart), and Women's Studies (Dr Stewart),

Purpose To explore aspects of mentoring that might influence medical faculty career satisfaction and to discover whether there are gender differences. Method In 2010–2011, the authors surveyed 1,708 clinician–researchers who received (in 2006–2009) National Institutes of Health K08 and K23 awards, which provided mentoring for career development. The authors compared, by gender, the development and nature of mentoring relationships, mentor characteristics, extent of mentoring in various mentor roles, and satisfaction with mentoring. They evaluated associations between mentoring and career satisfaction using multivariable linear regression analysis. Results The authors received 1,275 responses (75% response rate). Of these respondents, 1,227 (96%) were receiving K award support at the time and constituted the analytic sample. Many respondents had > 1 designated mentor (440/558 women, 79%; 410/668 men, 61%; P < .001). Few were dissatisfied with mentoring (122/1,220, 10.0%; no significant gender difference). Career dissatisfaction was generally low, but 289/553 women (52%) and 268/663 men (40%) were dissatisfied with work–life balance (P < .001). Time spent meeting or communicating with the mentor, mentor behaviors, mentor prestige, extent of mentoring in various roles, and collegiality of the mentoring relationship were significantly associated with career satisfaction. Mentor gender, gender concordance of the mentoring pair, and number of mentors were not significantly associated with satisfaction. Conclusions This study of junior faculty holding mentored career development awards showed strong associations between several aspects of mentoring and career satisfaction, indicating that those concerned about faculty attrition from academic medicine should consider mentor training and development.