New Veterinary Studies on Gender

Last week, I discussed gender imagery in veterinary medicine.  This week, I want to follow up by discussing two recently published veterinary studies on gender.

The new veterinary studies on gender

Both articles were published in Veterinary Record and confirm that gender discrimination is a continuing issue in veterinary medicine.  In an interesting ethnographic study of the veterinary profession in the United Kingdom, 39 male and 36 female veterinarians, ranging in age from 25 to 63, from small and large animal practices, were interviewed.  Ethnography is the study of people and cultures and the goal of the researchers was to better understand the veterinary profession. The interview questions did not explicitly address gender but the topic was mentioned so often by participants that the researchers felt that it deserved to be highlighted.

Gender was discussed in several ways.  First, the researchers found that both male and female veterinarians tended to use and repeat many gender stereotypes during the interviews.  In addition, many women mentioned lack of promotion opportunities. Lastly, both male and female veterinarians mentioned clients requesting to only see male veterinarians. This was frustrating to the women veterinarians, and then many times compounded, if they felt their male colleagues did not verbally affirm their professional aptitude to the clients.

Gendered Mismanagement

The researchers also noted what they called, “gendered mismanagement” of promotion.  Instances were reported where it was assumed that women would want to start a family or had a family and therefore would not be interested in a larger practice role or promotion.  The authors, “have seen how barriers to promotion rely on notions of the passive female vet, who is seen to place family before work, but managers fail to recognize how their practices not only reflect, but also reproduce, this gendered situation where women are frequently led to see career as ‘either/or decisions’ between ‘productive and reproductive work.’”

Previous studies have illuminated other issues in “gendered mismanagement.”  In a study of performance reviews of women and men in technology, it was found that criticism was present in more reviews of women than men.  Critical feedback of women was much more likely to include words such as “loud” and “abrasive” as personality traits that needed to be “fixed.”

Economic Repercussions

A second article demonstrated some of the financial realities surrounding gender.  In the United Kingdom, all employers with 250 or more employees are required to publish data about their pay gap.  The data is published on the UK government website.  An examination of that website found that all eight major veterinary corporations had larger gender pay gaps than the national average. Because the statistics are based on mean pay of all employees, the corporations contend that the gap is due to the low percent of men in client care and kennel positions.

However, the gap is also likely due to the lower percent of women in the higher paying executive positions.  At both Goddard and Independent VetCare, where women make only 50p and 52 p, respectively, per pound generated by men, only one each of their respective seven-member executive teams (14%) are women.

Similar pay information is not tracked in the United States.  However, as I have shown in previous blogs, women veterinarians consistently have had lower starting salaries than men, even when controlled for the type of position and hours worked.  In addition, women graduate with higher levels of debt than their male veterinary school counterparts.

If we look at veterinary consolidation groups in the United States, only 2 of the 23 groups that collectively control more than 4000 veterinary hospitals in the United States have women CEOs.  Only 22% of the C-suite members of these groups are women.

Conclusions

These statistics and articles are important.  We need real data and more discussion about the role of gender in the veterinary profession. We also need actionable suggestions for improvement.  The authors of the Veterinary Record article suggested gender awareness training should be included in veterinary school curriculum and should also be part of management training in veterinary organizations.  I agree with these suggestions and also believe that the large veterinary groups in the United States should report their gender pay gaps. In addition, I believe we should ask our professional organizations should take a more active role in researching and addressing gender bias.  If you do a google search for “AVMA” and “gender,” the most recent article on this topic was published more than a year ago.  It is important for us to address implicit and explicit bias in interviews and promotion.  The potential impact of client gender bias on burnout deserves more investigation.  We need current, open, and sustained discussion on gender to find solutions for the future.