Wages and Women in Health Care: The Race and Gender Gap

Health care systems are traditionally viewed as the source of care for those affected by illness, including conditions that have their genesis in the social determinants of health. Yet, in this issue, Himmelstein and Venkataramani (p. 198) have found that the health care system itself may be responsible for conditions that result in poor health and poverty among female health care workers. Although the thesis for the article is to suggest the importance of raising the minimum wage, the authors’ findings substantiate the idea that the wages of men and women are inequitable. Many women lack health insurance, many are in poor health, and many women and their children live in poverty. The findings of Himmelstein and Venkataramani illuminate the prevalence of pay inequity between men and women and between women of different races