Analysis of the AOTA claim of a gender-based wage gap in occupational therapy
The American Occupational Therapy Association recently publicized a claim that although 90.9% of respondents in their workforce survey were women that male practitioners make 14.7% more than women, despite setting, years of education, or position. They added the following editorial comments : "Want to earn what you deserve and be more confident? You don’t have to join the boys’ club or be aggressive." This is an interesting claim so I decided to research these statements and see if they could be validated. Data on wage disparity was not previously collectible in OT because of low numbers of men responding to workforce or wage surveys. There was a parallel problem in the nursing profession. However, in a recent large scale study in the nursing profession (also dominated by women wage earners) male nurses made $5,100 more on average per year than female colleagues in similar positions (Muench, Sindelar, Busch, and Buerhaus, 2015). However, the study reports that ab