Female Vets

[Bald Rick]

Article in yesterday’s Times:

“Sexist pet owners and chauvinistic farmers are holding back the careers of female vets, a study suggests (Lancaster University and the Open University Business Scool) .
Women would seem destined to dominate the profession (60% of vets are women now - 5% in 1960). However disproportionately few are making it to senior positions.”

So it’s all your fault . Shame on you for your outdated attitudes

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I’d Rather have a female vet any day
Small hands, more patience and better to look at

 

[Surgery]

Heard it’s more 75% female , our local vet only mentioned the other day male vets are becoming less involved in the trade , can only say girls seem to be better than boys on a hole , and better to look at , when the Mrs ain’t looking !

 

[Surgery]

I’d Rather have a female vet any day
Small hands, more patience and better to look at

Beat me to it

 

[dairyrow]

I really just want a competant vet. Which can diagnose and treat a cow properly. I don't have issuses if they are female or just starting out. I just want positive outcomes from their treatment.

 

[Goweresque]

So vets practices are non-sexist enough to employ 60% female vets, ie a massive majority but they're too sexist to offer them senior positions? How does that work then? And how exactly does the attitudes of the customer stop a practice making its own internal promotions?

Or could it be exactly the same as has occurred in the NHS (that well known hotbed of sexist attitudes) that as more women became GPs the number of GPs who went over to part time work and/or abandoned a career in medicine entirely rose dramatically? Thus resulting in them being less likely to attain senior positions. A result that is entirely down to the personal choice of the individual and their life situation, rather than any sexist attitudes within the NHS.

Its a paradox of sexual equality that the more of it you get, the greater the differences there will be in types of careers and how far people choose to take those careers. When you allow people to freely choose what they can do without any impediment then you find that the sexes don't chose the same things and there will be very large differences in the number of men and women doing certain jobs. The very fact that 60% of vets are now women (and I would put a bet on that rising to 80-90% as the older male vets retire, certainly at my vets all the younger vets are female) doesn't seem to attract the ire of the sexual equality police, despite it being far out of line with the numbers of men and women in society, but the fact that disproportionately more men are in the senior positions results in a cry of 'Sexism!'

I've never heard one politician/charity report/piece of research ever complain that a certain career has too many women in it and that must be the result of sexism, and needs to be reversed. Funny that.

 

[Skylark]

We've only had female vets visiting the farm for the last 3 years but frankly whether they're male or female makes sod all difference to me. If there's a vet here I need their help and am already acknowledging that they're bother better qualified than me and more likely to achieve a positive outcome than I am so what difference does it make whether they're male or female? Having seen cow prolapses put back in, cows calved and other stuff you soon realise technique and kit more than makes up for a tiny vet perceived as being weaker than you are.

Presumably then as I'm very supportive of female vets they will be immediately promoted to senior positions in their practice, or do we need to do a poll of other farmers in the area to see what percentage want them promoted? I'd never realised my opinion had any effect on the practice partners when they were hiring or firing staff but I'll obviously take this role as influencer much more seriously in future

 

[Jackov Altraids]

I don't care what colour, gender, sexuality, faith, anyone is.
I just want a vet that is competent considerate and communicative.
There are however a couple of general differences with gender in vets which can make them better or worse at certain procedures.
Overall, I think I prefer women in professional roles as they lack the competitive streak that can often make men make stupid decisions so as not to seem 'beaten'.

 

[delilah]

can only say girls seem to be better than boys on a hole

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Article in yesterday’s Times:

“Sexist pet owners and chauvinistic farmers are holding back the careers of female vets, a study suggests (Lancaster University and the Open University Business Scool) .
Women would seem destined to dominate the profession (60% of vets are women now - 5% in 1960). However disproportionately few are making it to senior positions.”

So it’s all your fault . Shame on you for your outdated attitudes

Yeah there couldn’t possibly be other reasons, has to be sexism. Some quality journalism that.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Female vets are more suited to farm work because they basically lack any ego to fuel or maintain. They generally don't talk 'at' or down to farmers, they aren't trying to get their name printed in the vet record or some kind of game-changing journal article either.

Because of the above they are also less likely to constantly try to prod farmers into doing more or changing things in an effort to 'improve' things.

Patience is far more valuable than raw muscle although there generally is not a shortage of that on farms anyway. Im told that much depends on technique anyway.

I would hazard a guess that females would be better agronomists too in fairness.

In my area and with all the folk I have known or met I've never heard anyone complain about a female vet ever.

 

[Lazy Eric]

Women I find make extremely good vets, I’d go the whole hog and say women in any professional job I’d rather deal with than men.. they just get the job done with no ego getting in the way. I find the best doctors are also women. But for some reason I don’t like buying from women,can’t explain it.

 

[CharcoalWally]

We have a female vet in senior position in our practice. Been in it for years.

We've had loads of female vets over the years. Most of them have been really, really good vets. I don't put it down to any particular male / female gender stereotyping, just that they were good at their job.

Of more concern than the sex of the vet, is getting young vets to come to work in relatively distant practices like ours, to do dirty, physical large animal work, when pottering about treating hamsters, gerbils and house cats and dogs in towns and cities close to all sorts of amenities that you don't get out in the sticks, seems a much bigger draw these days.

 

[Paddington]

Think one of our female vets quoted something like 80% of new vets are female, wonder what percentage are involved in farmwork as opposed to domestic animals ?

 

[Wooly]

All our local vet practices appear to be predominantly female and good at their jobs

The only trouble is they do vet collage, work for a few years, get married and then leave to start a family and never return !

On the plus side, we always have young vets.

 

[CharcoalWally]

Female vets are more suited to farm work because they basically lack any ego to fuel or maintain. They generally don't talk 'at' or down to farmers, they aren't trying to get their name printed in the vet record or some kind of game-changing journal article either.

Because of the above they are also less likely to constantly try to prod farmers into doing more or changing things in an effort to 'improve' things.

Patience is far more valuable than raw muscle although there generally is not a shortage of that on farms anyway. Im told that much depends on technique anyway.

I would hazard a guess that females would be better agronomists too in fairness.

In my area and with all the folk I have known or met I've never heard anyone complain about a female vet ever.

Three points on this Ollie.

The only time I've ever felt moved to phone the boss and complain about a vet's behaviour on farm, was with a junior female vet. Yes spoken at. Yes spoken down to. Yes, spoken to incredibly rudely. At one point she decided to pretend that she just wasn't hearing me so that she didn't have to answer my questions. She was hearing me fine. OK., she was having a bad day, but vets have to be professional. You can't take your problems out on the client. It's not their fault.

The most impatient vet I've ever had here was female. Don't get me wrong, a damn good vet and otherwise, a really nice woman to work with, but so incredibly impatient by any vet's standards, that I found it occasionally unsettling.

Many many years ago, we thankfully got rid of a female vet that I would have described as deeply incompetent. The complaints about her work were endless.

So, female vets in my experience, can be just as liable to display the same character traits as their male counterparts. As others have said, I don't care what sex the vet is, just that they can do the job.

 

[organicguy]

Think one of our female vets quoted something like 80% of new vets are female, wonder what percentage are involved in farmwork as opposed to domestic animals ?

When my son was at college 90% were girls, even with positive attempts to encourage men.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Female vets don't stay long at our vets practice..... cos of the attitude of the male vets . Some cracking vets have moved onto pastures new for the same reason . The male vets are good but the female ones are better to work with. However any vet is welcome when needed !!

 

[7610 super q]

It's Brexit wot done it

 

[Woolless]

The amount of corporate takeovers in the last few years means that there are far fewer partnerships to be had for anyone, male or female. The UK is short of vets and the proportion of females is (let's say) 60% and rising. I don't think the profession can afford to be sexist.

But let's be realistic. Many females end up going part-time for family reasons so is it really surprising that there's not quite as many in senior positions as there numbers would suggest?