Women in Physical Therapy
I’ve had a draft of this post pending for a few months, but I always feel like there’s more to say, more research to do, more thoughts to think before I finish it. However, in light of the upcoming #DPTStudent Twitter chat on Women in PT and Gloria Steinem’s 80th birthday, I decided to write out some of my thoughts on women in PT as they are now. I’m sure they will change and evolve, and I look forward to revisiting this important topic again and again. The way I see it as a PT student, women in the field face issues related to at least three different areas:
- Women are paid less than men even in a field where women make up the majority of practicioners. They are also less likely than men to own their own practices.
- They are underrepresented in leadership positions, such as those in the APTA, and also online.
- Female PT’s face sexism, and sometimes even harassment, from patients.
A lot has been written about women in general earning 77 cents to every dollar a man earns. In PT, just as in other fields, women stopping work, pausing work, or working part time, can explain some of this phenomenon.
However, I think it is worth delving a little deeper into this issue. Even women who never stop working fulltime are less likely to ask for a salary equal to that of their male peers. or to ask for the raises their male counterparts are requesting. But even more troubling is a study which showed that both men and women are subconsciously inclined to pay women less. When show resumes identical in everything except gender, both men and women made offers to the women for less pay, and also respected the candidates less. It is important to recognize that the gender gap in women’s pay stems from more than just some women’s decision to work less.
The second topic, regarding leadership, is perhaps best explained by Jennifer Bresnick, PT, DPTon her website (to which I’ve contributed), The PT Student.
With regards to the third point, we coincidentally just spoke in class today about patients who flirt with practioners and cross lines by touching them inappropriately. While this seems to happen to male PT’s also, at least in my class, they seemed to feel less threatened by it. I’m also curious about less obvious harassment. What about the patient who says he wants to work with a certain female therapist simply because she’s pretty? While some may take this as a compliment, I would certainly rather be valued for my brains and eight years of hard work studying than for my looks.
I’d love to hear any thoughts or reactions to this topic, and I look forward to chatting with you all on the 26th at 9 pm. Look for #DPTstudent and find me @JasDPT15.







