Honestly, once they are done with their residency the life of a doctor can be pretty family friendly. I have 2 doctor friends. One is a radiologist and works 3 days a week and is on call 1 night a week and one weekend day a month. And when she’s is off, she is off (no need to check messages, answer client calls etc).
The other is a general practioner with a 4 day schedule strictly 8-4 with 1 night on call a week. Again when no on call or at work, no checking in or anything.

I can’t believe we are 19 pages in and still haven’t defined “high-earning woman.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what if they go part time? They are still providing a needed service at work and at home and hospitals will just hire a second part timer to keep up with demand. They earn great money for a well-respected part time job and then since they keep practicing can renter FT later. I don’t see a problem here.

It's the elephant in the room, but more women are in medicine taking residency spots and then choosing not to practice full time. The number of residency spots are finite and increasing med school class size does not address the fact that residency spots are limited. I don't blame these women including friends I have for choosing self-preservation in an increasingly grueling field.

The limited number of residency spots is a policy choice by the medical industry and the government (which allows the medical industry to engage in this clearly anticompetitive scheme). The idea that we'd blame anyone who goes part time for taking a residency spot is laying the blame on the wrong party. If you hate the limited residency system, complain to your Congressman (who probably gets a boatload of money from the AMA and the American Hospital Association).

It’s not the industry actually the number of residency spots is determined by Medicare funding for residency spots to the hospital. Medicine controls the number of doctors being produced by controlling the number and quality of medical schools and making it extremely difficult to get admitted. There is no bottom limit to the number of crappy lawyers this country can produce, because there is no bottom for law schools; anyone can attend SOME law school. Not so for doctors. It’s much harder to get into any med school than it is to get into even a good law school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what if they go part time? They are still providing a needed service at work and at home and hospitals will just hire a second part timer to keep up with demand. They earn great money for a well-respected part time job and then since they keep practicing can renter FT later. I don’t see a problem here.

It's the elephant in the room, but more women are in medicine taking residency spots and then choosing not to practice full time. The number of residency spots are finite and increasing med school class size does not address the fact that residency spots are limited. I don't blame these women including friends I have for choosing self-preservation in an increasingly grueling field.

This is a spurious argument. There are more residency slots than there are physicians and residency slots go I filled every year. If you’re concerned that a woman is taking a spot from a man in a more competitive specialty, well if that many wanted the spot so badly he needed to be more qualified to begin with. Not her problem that he had worse grades, boards scores and recommendations during medical school, and she gets to have a great career on her own terms.

The doctor shortages that we have today are caused by doctors (of both sexes) choosing to live in more urban areas instead of underserved areas that are more poor and rural. That has nothing to do with sex, gender or FT/PT. In fact, of the women I know who work PT temporarily, all of them have done it in underserved areas to make more money on a more flexible schedule.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a much younger sister in her early thirties and she and nearly all of her friends are SAHM’s to men working good professional jobs. Looking at the housing turnover in my neighborhood this seems to be the case there too. So I’m not sure if your theory is accurate.

I think it also depends where you live but ultimately, the high earning lawyer plus high earning cardiologist will do better overall financially and have the most resources of their kids. In the end, I can see this being the ideal set up.

You think a kid being raised by a big law partner and a busy specialist doctor is the ideal set up? Those people are going to need a backup nanny for the main nanny, so we are gonna have to agree to disagree there.

+1. The lawyer wife will be posting on dcum in five years that she’s not sure whether she should go back to her grueling job at an inflexible law firm, and because while she contributes a good amount to their lifestyle, they don’t “need” the money.

That said, my sister is in a two high earner marriage. Does it happen? Yes. But it’s somewhat uncommon. Many families have two working spouses but the scenarios are much more skewed towards one high/medium earner and a low earning/sah spouse, or two medium earners.

Except for those in medicine. My DH is a ‘specialist physician’ and we know so many high earning husband and wife physicians. They just outsource everything but keep their jobs!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a much younger sister in her early thirties and she and nearly all of her friends are SAHM’s to men working good professional jobs. Looking at the housing turnover in my neighborhood this seems to be the case there too. So I’m not sure if your theory is accurate.

I think it also depends where you live but ultimately, the high earning lawyer plus high earning cardiologist will do better overall financially and have the most resources of their kids. In the end, I can see this being the ideal set up.

You think a kid being raised by a big law partner and a busy specialist doctor is the ideal set up? Those people are going to need a backup nanny for the main nanny, so we are gonna have to agree to disagree there.

+1. The lawyer wife will be posting on dcum in five years that she’s not sure whether she should go back to her grueling job at an inflexible law firm, and because while she contributes a good amount to their lifestyle, they don’t “need” the money.

That said, my sister is in a two high earner marriage. Does it happen? Yes. But it’s somewhat uncommon. Many families have two working spouses but the scenarios are much more skewed towards one high/medium earner and a low earning/sah spouse, or two medium earners.

Men always wanted high earning women. There is a reason all the heiresses are so popular.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what if they go part time? They are still providing a needed service at work and at home and hospitals will just hire a second part timer to keep up with demand. They earn great money for a well-respected part time job and then since they keep practicing can renter FT later. I don’t see a problem here.

It's the elephant in the room, but more women are in medicine taking residency spots and then choosing not to practice full time. The number of residency spots are finite and increasing med school class size does not address the fact that residency spots are limited. I don't blame these women including friends I have for choosing self-preservation in an increasingly grueling field.

The limited number of residency spots is a policy choice by the medical industry and the government (which allows the medical industry to engage in this clearly anticompetitive scheme). The idea that we'd blame anyone who goes part time for taking a residency spot is laying the blame on the wrong party. If you hate the limited residency system, complain to your Congressman (who probably gets a boatload of money from the AMA and the American Hospital Association).

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this thread really demonstrates the difference between secular marriage and marriage with a more religious purpose. When I got married, I made a vow before my
Spouse and before god. Marriage isn’t about incomes and CYA if you end up divorced. Marriage it’s supposed to be a lifelong commitment. As such, both partners need to compromise and trust. I don’t hear any of that in this thread.

I'm not particularly religious, but I agree.

I feel like this thread really demonstrates the difference between secular marriage and marriage with a more religious purpose. When I got married, I made a vow before my
Spouse and before god. Marriage isn’t about incomes and CYA if you end up divorced. Marriage it’s supposed to be a lifelong commitment. As such, both partners need to compromise and trust. I don’t hear any of that in this thread.

Anonymous wrote:So what if they go part time? They are still providing a needed service at work and at home and hospitals will just hire a second part timer to keep up with demand. They earn great money for a well-respected part time job and then since they keep practicing can renter FT later. I don’t see a problem here.

It's the elephant in the room, but more women are in medicine taking residency spots and then choosing not to practice full time. The number of residency spots are finite and increasing med school class size does not address the fact that residency spots are limited. I don't blame these women including friends I have for choosing self-preservation in an increasingly grueling field.

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe no one has brought up the idea that men want highly compensated women so they don’t have to pay alimony and child support in the event of a divorce. It’s a huge reason men want women who work. Be very careful when gauging the reasons he claims to want a woman who works.

+1

This is especially true for guys who are a little older. By the time I hit 40, I knew many guys who lost their azz in a divorce. If you have a brain, you choose to either stay single or find a partner with a similar income.

Op here again. I’m a doctor and I can confirm that it has pluses and minus. I don’t think it’s actually a bad sign that women step back in medicine- it actually shows one of the biggest strengths of the field. I can make 250k working 3-4 days a week and I’m in one of lowest paid field- what other field allows for that. Training sucks though but most ppl finish before they have kids (unlike me who had kids during training).

So what if they go part time? They are still providing a needed service at work and at home and hospitals will just hire a second part timer to keep up with demand. They earn great money for a well-respected part time job and then since they keep practicing can renter FT later. I don’t see a problem here.

And a positive article on why choosing medicine for women is not as bad as the other jobs. Guess my observations have been validated by the New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/upshot/medicine-family-friendly-profession-women.amp.html

Female doctors are more likely than other professionals to have children and keep working. The reasons offer lessons for other jobs.