Inspiring women in veterinary leadership and the discipline of surgery is important to me (by veterinary leaders I mean practice owners, vet managers and veterinary specialists).
There is an excellent article that features in the Veterinary Record that discusses this aspect of the profession. The article is called ‘Women in veterinary leadership positions: their motivations and enablers’ and is authored by Charlotte Tindell, Renate Weller and Tierney Kinnison. There are a few key things I took from this article. There is a hugely increased % of female vets versus male vets in total, but there is a discrepancy between male and female leaders in this pool – 6.5% of female veterinarians are directors versus 25% of male veterinarians. Some of this is based around female belief systems. Women are less likely to believe they can reach the top. My take: Why are women less likely to believe they can reach the top? I think part of it is a discrepancy in female role models (the 'you can't be what you can't see' phenomenon - especially prevalent in surgery), societal pressures, the 'guilt' factor (from being pulled in every direction) and lack of recognition that there is an issue.
From the article: There is currently a gender disparity in leader role models, with a predominance of male role models, which is believed to have a discouraging effect on women’s future career aspirations. Women find female role models more inspiring.
Women value the control that leadership roles offer in terms of flexibility and ownership over their time. There was a feeling, amongst the participants of this study, that a leadership position was more conducive to family life. Leaders require a passion to implement change, and participants defined a leader as someone who had the ability to implement change and make progress as well as have the ability to mentor and inspire. The significance of societal pressures and other obstacles placed on women aspiring to leadership was something that resonated with the participants and were experiences that they themselves had learnt from. A sense of passion to enhance the working lives of others was a compelling driving force for leadership. My take: I think the profession could look to change the gender disparity of role models. This involves looking at the differences between inspiring different genders and what the specific enablers are for this. Dr Yuniko Kadota talks about this in her book 'Emotional Women', and she also advocates visibility of female role models.
How can the veterinary profession help to create more women leaders? The study answered this question, and found a requirement for external enablers. This was divided into; Opportunities to grow - Obtaining leadership roles often stemmed from a gradual increase in responsibilities provided by the workplace throughout the participants' career. Mentoring and support - Flexible work hours were an important consideration. Some women leaders in human medicine believe that working part-time can impede leadership opportunities. Having autonomy to manage the work-life balance has been highlighted as a need for all genders and ages within the profession. Therefore, flexible working hours provide external support. - A formal mentoring system where someone is available to offer guidance and appraisal was also crucial to the women in this study and is something that should be encouraged within or external to the workplace. Other pearls: Research has identified societal pressures and obstacles, such as burnout, which have impacted many women’s career development. The women in the current study worked to reduce these pressures, demonstrating how influential they can be in becoming roles models and motivating the life choices of other female veterinary surgeons. (more evidence for the importance of role models) A small increase in familiar female role models may help to inspire the next generation. Participants described having a mentor who was inspiring to them, and as a result, they wanted to reciprocate this for someone else via their position of influence. This has been shown to improve ‘follower’ work performance. Mentors increase confidence in skillsets and subsequently the self-valuation. Appraisal from mentors is highly important both in terms of the emotional benefits and also the ability for women to benchmark their skills. Those who have received positive appraisal from others are more likely to aspire to leadership roles.
Women in the veterinary profession - conclusion The profession as a whole can embrace these enablers through such strategies as CPD, while individual practices can also make their stance on these issues more explicit and inclusive. Further research into potential strategies to increase female leadership may provide the profession with not only a more proportionate number of female leaders but also a more satisfied workforce and improved retention overall. Thank-you to the authors of 'Women in veterinary leadership positions', Charlotte Tindell, Renate Weller and Tierney Kinnison for a fabulous article.
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