Advertisement

Tampa Bay hospitals deny gender pay gap for nurses (w/video)

 
A national study shows males nurses make more than their female counterparts, but locals hospitals say that's not true here.
A national study shows males nurses make more than their female counterparts, but locals hospitals say that's not true here.
Published March 30, 2015

Even in nursing — a field dominated by women — men make a lot more money.

Ninety percent of registered nurses nationwide are female, yet they earn about $5,000 less every year than their male counterparts — an 8 percent dip on the average $66,973 nursing salary. That's with cost of living, hours worked, education and experience factored in, according to a study published last week in the Journal of American Medical Association.

Though salary data supports the national study, a quick survey of area health providers failed to confirm the pay discrepancy among Tampa Bay nurses.

"I've worked at a couple area hospitals, and I don't think there's a disparity at all," said Vikki Pinkos, a registered nurse at Moffitt Cancer Center and president of the bay area chapter of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

Pinkos has spent 14 years at Moffitt as a registered nurse. She works with patients after surgery, post anesthesia, and said several of her co-workers are men.

"Depending on what day it is and what's going on there might be more guys working than girls," she said. "In bedside nursing, it's (pay) not an issue."

Pinkos' experience lined up with what local hospital spokespeople said.

Spokesman John Dunn said Tampa General Hospital "does not have salary disparity between male and female nurses."

This is also the case at Florida Hospital Carrollwood, where human resources director Jamesha Scarborough said registered nurses start at the same base pay, depending on education and experience, and have equal opportunity to climb the clinical ladder — true for all Florida Hospital campuses, she said.

"We don't look at whether you're male or female, or your race," she said. "What we're looking at: Are you, under our job description, able to work in this capacity?"

BayCare Health System also said employees are paid based on experience and education.

"For competitive reasons we don't discuss specific wage rates and ranges," spokeswoman Beth Hardy said, but she added "we work very hard to offer competitive compensation."

The Journal study broke down pay gaps by department. Hospitals, for instance, had a disparity of about $3,000 a year, whereas outpatient services had a gap of about $7,000.

The associate dean at the University of South Florida's College of Nursing master's program, Brian Graves, said the number of male nurses has been on the rise.

His 1,100-person program is currently 12 percent male, whereas the undergraduate nursing program is about 8 percent men.

"I think in general we're seeing more men come into the profession, which is a good thing," said Graves, who is a registered nurse. "When I went to nursing school I was one of three guys."

As for their pay?

"There shouldn't be a gap," he said. "Men and women should be paid equally for the work that they do."

University of Florida women's studies professor Angel Kwolek-Folland said the gap was "not surprising" but added that pay disparity in any field might not be intentional.

"It's not consciously done," she said. "It's not like someone steps in and says 'I'm going to discriminate.' I make a choice and you make a choice and we all make a choice and then we all have a pattern."

These choices include women taking time off to care for children, a common occurrence in two-earner families because men make more, feeding the cycle.

"In the case of nursing, it's been a predominantly female profession for many years," she said. "As men are introduced into the field, they are in some cases going into the high-paying fields, and if you introduce a few men who are paid more, it sort of skews the average in a way."

Pinkos, a USF graduate, reiterated that Moffitt nurses have equal opportunity to make more over time and dismissed the idea of a gender gap.

"Now do I think nurses should get more?" she said. "Of course I do."

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@tampabay. com or 813-226-3400. Follow @rachelacrosby.