Women Veterinarians Now Outnumber Men, Proving Determination Defeats Discrimination, USA

Main Category: Veterinary
Article Date: 30 May 2007 - 15:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Fifty years ago, women experienced difficulties enrolling at U.S. veterinary schools and there were very few female veterinarians. The practice of discrimination was so accepted that some veterinary schools sent out rejection letters to female applicants telling them, frankly, that the school didn't accept women. Today, four veterinary schools or colleges have female deans, and veterinary classes are on average 75 percent women (sometimes up to and over 90 percent). This year - for the first time in history - female veterinarians outnumber men, according to a news story appearing in the June 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA).

Dr. Dorothy Segal, a retired veterinarian in Michigan who graduated from Michigan State with a veterinary medical degree in 1943, remembers when it wasn't so easy for a woman to become a veterinarian. Dr. Segal explains the way it was when she entered the profession: "The dean at the time did not want women. He said, 'Go back to the kitchen.' He literally said that. The first speech he gave was, 'What are you doing here?' and he was not joking." After graduation, Dr. Segal sometimes faced similar reactions from clients.

Fifty years ago, veterinary medicine was described as "no job for a lady" because most people from that era felt that handling animals, particularly large farm animals, required a man's strength.

Dr. Segal and her peers proved that a woman could handle herself on a farm - or in Dorothy's case, under a circus tent treating big cats.

Today, the gender questions about veterinary medicine are very different - nobody can quite explain why veterinary medicine is so overwhelmingly attractive to women. Law schools and medical schools are both open to women as well, but women make up just 48 percent of law and medical school classes, according to the American Bar Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Tuft's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine's student population is now 85 percent female. "I don't know that anybody has a conclusive answer of why, but I certainly do hear from some of our women students say that they are very attracted to the field, in part, because they see flexibility," says the assistant dean of student affairs, Barbara Berman.

To read the JAVMA article, "2007 is DVM Year of the Woman: History of Female Veterinarians Paved with Individual Struggles and Triumphs", visit http://www.avma.org.

The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. More than 75,000 member veterinarians are engaged in a wide variety of professional activities. AVMA members are dedicated to advancing the science and art of veterinary medicine including its relationship to public health and agriculture. Visit the AVMA Web site at www.avma.org to learn more about veterinary medicine and animal care and to access up-to-date information on the association's issues, policies and activities.

http://www.avma.org

• Additional
• References
• Citations