The majority of leadership positions at schools and hospitals open to surgeons ? and the higher salaries that go with them ? usually are awarded to men, as female surgeons say they face challenges their male colleagues do not.

For male and female surgeons to work at least 60 hours a week is common, but men often have wives who stay at home or work part-time to help with family obligations and child rearing, said Dr. Martha Zeiger, chief of the endocrine surgery section at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

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