Female physicians who have children work fewer hours than their childless peers, but the same doesn't hold true for men, finds a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. Nearly 5000 couples in which both partners were physicians or surgeons completed questionnaires about hours worked. Among respondents without children, men worked an average of 57 hours and women worked 52 hours weekly. Compared to men without children, men with children worked similar numbers of hours weekly. However, compared to women without children, women with children worked significantly fewer hours weekly — roughly 40–43 hours, depending on the age of their youngest child. Dr. Carlos del Rio — an NEJM Journal Watch editor married to a physician — commented: "These data suggest that among U.S. dual-physician couples with children, women work fewer hours than men — suggesting that most of the work for taking care of children falls on the women. As the percentage of women in medicine increases, we will need to ensure that healthcare organizations provide the support to couples with children, as women cannot continue to be disproportionately impacted by what should be a couple's responsibility for childcare." Source
