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| This poodle isn't female, but was at the AVA Conference chilling out in the exhibition hall. |
There are more female veterinarians than ever in our
profession, yet we continue to experience challenges.
At the recent AVA conference, Campbell Fisher – Managing Partner
and Solicitor Director of FCB Group – gave a presentation about some of these
challenges.
It’s hard to say exactly how many women in the
profession, but according to a 2009 NAB survey it was 3500 – compared to just
471 in 1980. That figure has undoubtedly increased almost a decade later. In
the 2016 AVA Veterinary Workforce Survey, 62 per cent of respondents were
female – BUT the response rate was 14 per cent and studies have shown that
women are more likely to respond to surveys.
Yet there remains a shortage of female graduates working
in rural communities, partly, it seems, because of longer hours, greater travel
distances, more overtime and less availability of child care. In most countries
including Australia it appears that men are more likely than women to own a
practice and thus employ other veterinarians.
(In this fast-moving area it is perilous to cite “old”
literature, but excellent paper by Heath and Lanyon looked at motivations for
studying veterinary science 21 years ago. Key factors influencing men to study
vet science were the desire to be independent of supervision and the financial
attractiveness of veterinary practice. Key factors influencing women to study
vet science were a love of animals, veterinarians on TV, an interest in living
things and the scientific study of disease(Heath and Lanyon, 1996). If these trends are
accurate and held over that time period, you can understand why males were
drawn to practice ownership than females).
It seems that not all employers are up with the 2009
Commonwealth Fair Work Act, which provides entitlements including entitlements
for pregnant employees, parental leave access and the right to request flexible
work arrangements. For women employed for over 12 months in their current job,
this means they can request flexible work arrangements (this might include
varying hours worked, starting and finishing times etc). Under the Act,
employers do need to consider these requests and respond in writing within 21
days, refusing a flexible work request only on “reasonable business grounds”.
In small clinics it could still be very hard to
accommodate such requests due to the nature of the work.
Despite the existence of the Sex Discrimination Act, Mr
Fisher argued that gender inequality continues in our profession. He cited a
recent study which found that for every 100 women who got promoted from an
entry level position to a management role, 130 men advance. Additionally, while
employers might be educated about sex discrimination, not all clients are, and
women may be subject to discrimination from clients. I remember some years ago
I was locuming in a practice and a male client presented an aggressive German
Shepherd for examination. Before he saw me he had decided this was beyond my
capacity due to the fact that I am biologically female, and requested to see
the male vet. My colleague had a fear of this breed due to a traumatic
childhood experience, but the client absolutely insisted that he preferred that
the dog was examined by a male. I don’t think anyone was happy in that situation, regardless of their gender and/or species.
It’s hard to believe in this day and age that people in
any workplace (or any context really) are being discriminated against because
of their gender or sex, but it happens. We need legislation, and education, to
continue to fight it.
Reference
HEATH, T. J. & LANYON, A. 1996. A longitudinal study of
veterinary students and recent graduates. 4. Gender issues. Aust Vet J, 74, 305-8.
