Providing a history of gender shifts, pay gaps and advancement challenges, Cara Hopkins shares an up-to-date situation analysis of gender equality issues for women in veterinary professions. She notes 87.3 percent of current veterinary school applicants identify as female, as well as 88 percent of veterinary technicians, but finds dissimilar ratios in academia and practice ownership.
“Creating equal and fair outcomes relies on recognizing that everyone starts from a different place.” – Charlotte Edmond <Link>
Source: AAHA NEWStat, March 22, 2024. Link.
Commentary
It is worth considering these situations holistically. However, I am unclear on the objectives, what they should be, or who sets them for gender balance. Defining them and any inherent biases may be critical:
- Semantically, equity and equality are often used interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing. Equality is the end goal – equity is how you get there.
- From a compensation standpoint, equal pay for equal production makes total sense.
- If we assume ratios of 50/50 or 40/60 could be viewed as more balanced at all points of measurement . . . something has veterinary student ratios out of balance despite the numbers tipped toward males in academia and practice ownership.
- Looking more deeply at the “motherhood penalty,” results from searches and article sources confirm the ratios shared by Hopkins. We did not discover a specific percentage of female veterinarians who are mothers in the U.S. despite little variances in the overall U.S. birth rates <Link>.
Hi Kirk,
Interesting article and commentary – thanks for publishing it. Our Brakke Consulting survey data of US companion animal veterinarians shows that women now make up the majority of owners and partners. This crossed over 50% to be a female majority in 2018 and in 2023, our data shows that of owners and partners, 56% are women. Of associate veterinarians, 78% are women.
Thanks,
Bob Jones
Thank you Bob!