Discussion

The veterinary profession is potentially confronted with a demographic time bomb brought about by a dramatic gender shift in the last 30 years.
The 2010 Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons survey states that 64% of UK practicing veterinary surgeons under 45 are female compared with 32% of practicing veterinary surgeons over 45. In 2010 only 23% of veterinary students starting their degrees were male (Fig 1).

Men have become a minority among veterinary students and there is little certainty about why this has happened, what the impact will be, or how to respond. However it may be assumed that organisational behaviour will be significantly influenced by the feminisation of the profession. This will affect the management, strategy and ownership of veterinary practices, key influencers for the future direction of the industry, and other areas such as recruitment, retention, work/life balance and job satisfaction.

By considering the differences in behaviour, attitudes and ambition between male and female veterinary students and veterinary graduates, as determined by a recent survey of 905 UK trained subjects, the current and future impact of the gender shift on the industry will be discussed.

The reducing numbers of applications from men has been rationalised as a response to falling income levels relative to other professions, the loss of professional status and a reaction to the gender shift.

Contrary to popular opinion, the fall in the number of male undergraduates relates not to differing academic abilities or emotional maturity, but simply to a lack of applications: please dont blame the veterinary schools for not admitting men. We cannot admit them if they do not apply.(Watson 2011).
Despite the increased involvement of women there persists an inequality of remuneration within the profession.

The 2010 Society of Practicing Vets Salary Survey showed a median full-time salary of GBP39,839 for males and GBP36,329 for females (SPVS 2010). The statistics from the US are similar with the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) of new graduates in 2011 showing that the mean full-time salary for males was $70,245 and
$64,794 for females (JAVMA 2011).

The explanation for this is elusive. The Brakke Management and Behaviour Study published in 2000 states even after extensive analysis, there were income differences between male veterinarians and female veterinarians that could not be explained by practice ownership, employment, business practices, years in practice, hours worked, personal characteristic or other factors (Cron et al. 2000). However, the study did find that female veterinarians were highly satisfied with incomes at levels with which male veterinarians were much less satisfied.

A consequence of women vets being more satisfied with their remuneration than men, is the possibility that as the percentage of women in the profession increases, women will have an increasing influence on the salary levels for the whole profession, and conceivably lead to a lower income for all members of the profession.

Meanwhile the burden of educational debt is increasing rapidly. From 1989 to 2007, the starting salaries in private practices increased at a rate of 4.6% per annum, whereas over the same period, student debt increased by 7.4%. The graduate debt in 1989 was 1.1 x the average starting salary, but by 2007 it had increased to 2.0 x the starting salary. Veterinary medical education is increasingly expensive and the cost appears out of synchrony with the earnings potential of veterinarians entering general practice. Looking to the future it is difficult to imagine how the present conditions can be sustained(Chieffo 2008).

The tradition of long hours culture in the veterinary profession is slowly changing as the younger generations exert more influence over working practices. The distribution of home and family responsibilities has not kept pace with the changes in equity in the work place and women in EU countries spend nearly twice as much time on domestic tasks as men (Eurostat 2006). These factors will influence the organisational shape of the profession in future years with an increased emphasis on career breaks and part-time work.

Flexible working practices will become increasingly common place within veterinary practice, and considered to be an asset rather than a compromise.

The management and ownership structure of the profession will change also. A recently reported survey of matriculating students regarding practice ownership expectations reported that a significantly greater proportion of men (74.2%) than women (48.5%) indicated that they expected to own their own practice (Bristol 2011). As the increasing number of female veterinary surgeons moves up the age demographic, succession planning may become an issue. In a 2007 survey of US equine veterinary surgeons, 79% indicated that they strongly agreed, or agreed that it would be very difficult to find someone willing or able to buy their practice when they retire (AAEP 2008).

The veterinary profession needs to understand and embrace the shifting demography, but the rewards for doing so are potentially high. A study of all European quoted companies with a stock market capitalisation of over 150 showed that companies with a higher proportion of women on their management committees significantly outperformed the industry average with a 48% higher EBIT and a 1.7x higher share price growth than their peers (Desvaux et al. 2007).

The commercial sector in general needs to move away from the dichotomy of the public world of economic activity and the private domain of relationships and care (Bailyn 1993). Businesses will benefit from improved staff wellbeing, increased productivity

and be rewarded with enhanced loyalty and staff retention if the borders between the 2 worlds become permeable with the greater integration of each. The new generation of vets are ideally placed to drive this change.