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News & Reports BVA Congress
Women as veterinary leaders and entrepreneurs Despite making up an increasing proportion of the veterinary profession, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in leadership roles. Is this imbalance a problem? And what opportunities are there to address it? A debate at the BVA Congress at the London Vet Show last month sought to provide some answers, as Laura Honey reports THE veterinary profession has seen a huge gender shift in the past decade and there are now more female veterinary surgeons than male – of the 19,863 vets practising in the UK, 11,248 are women. ‘Up to 45 years of age, the number of females outstrips the number of males, between 46 and 50 it’s about equal, and then over 50, the males outnumber the females,’ said Jacqui Molyneux, a practice owner and past-president of the RCVS, during a debate about women as veterinary leaders and entrepreneurs during the BVA Congress at the London Vet Show on November 21. Although, overall, women outnumbered men in the veterinary profession, there were still twice as many male sole principals than female sole principals, and 3.5 times as many male practice partners as female partners. It had been suggested that this might be because in the age group that was most likely to be undertaking these roles, men still outnumbered women, but it had also been suggested that, in general, women were less likely to want to take on a partner or director role or have an equity stake in a veterinary business. Mrs Molyneux was convinced that women ‘just need a more personal approach’ to be encouraged to go after these sort of roles. Giving evidence that this approach might work, she explained that, in 2012, when she was president of the RCVS, no female candidates had stood for election to the RCVS Council, and so she and her colleagues undertook a campaign whereby
Colette Murphy: the veterinary profession could end up with more effective leaders if more women take on director or partner roles
they went and directly asked women to stand for the election the following year. ‘We had 19 candidates stand, and 10 of them were women. I’m convinced that if somebody just stands up and says “stand for council” the women don’t think that you are talking to them, whereas if you go out and specifically approach them, they stand.’ This was not just a problem unique to the veterinary sector. She pointed out that it had been reported that only 20 per cent of places on the boards of the FTSE 100 companies were occupied by women and only four of those 100 companies had a female chief executive. Also, in the Global Gender Gap index, the UK was ranked 26th in 2014, coming behind all of the Scandinavian countries, and also behind Rwanda, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Burundi.1 And the gender gap did not just affect the roles men and women had within the profession. There also continued to be a significant salary gap between male and female vets. Mrs Molyneux noted that this had been a topic of debate when she was president of the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) four years ago, but the issue had still not been addressed. ‘The [latest] SPVS salary survey has just come out and, on average, there is a 17 per cent differential between male and female vet salaries and that is exactly the same as four years ago. It’s highest in those qualified the longest, up to 25 per cent, so if you’ve been qualified for more than 16 years and you’re a male, then you are likely to earn 25 per cent more than a female with the same number of years qualification,’ she said. It had also been found that even new graduates were being offered different salaries depending on whether they were male or female. The SPVS survey showed that males who were newly qualified were likely to be offered 10 per cent more than the equivalent female.2 Sean Wensley, junior vice-president of the BVA, asked whether this salary gap could be due, in part, to the fact that men were more likely to ask for a pay rise than women. Mrs Molyneux said that, although this was a possible contributing factor, practice owners were finding that, despite the numbers graduating every year, there was a real shortage of vets applying for the jobs that
Women may need a more personal approach to be encouraged to take on senior roles, said Jacqui Molyneux
they advertised. She suggested that the notion that a male vet was more valuable as he would stay longer and wouldn’t leave to have children probably still existed among some practice owners, and that this could lead to them being offered more for the same post. Discussing some of the reasons why women might be more reluctant than men to take on leadership roles, Colette Henry, editor of the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship and the second speaker in the debate, pointed out that there were 4.9 million small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, the category into which veterinary practices fell, but only 17 to 19 per cent of SMEs were led by women. She said that there was evidence to suggest that women were less likely to start or take on a business because they had ‘a higher fear of failure’, ‘less of a belief in their own abilities’ and were ‘more risk aware’ compared to their male counterparts. If women were less likely to lead or get involved in ownership of a veterinary practice then there would be fewer private practices and the number of corporate practices would increase, predicted Professor Henry. However, she also said that if more women undertook director or partner roles, the profession might end up with more effective leaders in the field, as there was evidence that ‘the minute that you start to
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News & Reports put women in visible leadership roles and on boards, lots of different things happen and for the better’.
Addressing the imbalance
Providing some advice on how the veterinary profession could move forward and address the gender imbalance, Professor Henry said that vet schools could play a part in helping to reshape the veterinary entrepreneurship business curriculum. Vet schools had a young, captive audience for five or six years and so they could ‘let these young women know that they are going to be shaped and supported and educated so that they can avail themselves of these leadership roles in the future.’ The corporate sector, through initiatives like joint venture partnerships, could help to prepare people for leadership roles by taking the risk out of the new venture creation and enable women to take on these roles. Mrs Molyneux added that she thought that, nowadays, the influence of out-of-hours clinics made it easier for women to set up their own practice as they would be able to
get a better work/life balance and be there for family life, as veterinary practitioners were no longer required to provide 24-hour care themselves. Concluding the debate, its chair, Gudrun Ravetz, a past-president of SPVS, suggested that a group be started on the BVA community forum (www.bva.co.uk/ community), where members could continue the conversation about the gender issues that still existed and discuss ideas for ways to move forward to ensure that women in the profession were supported and encouraged to reach their aspirations (see also Letters, VR, December 6, 2014, vol 175, p 567). 1. World economic forum (2014) The global gender gap report 2014. www3. weforum.org/docs/GGGR14/GGGR_ CompleteReport_2014.pdf. Accessed December 10, 2014 2. SPVS salary surveys. www.spvs.org.uk/ content/salary-surveys. Accessed December 10, 2014
Continuing the debate Women in leadership roles is the subject of a blog by Collette Henry on the Vet Futures website, which picks up on some of the issues she raised during the debate at the BVA Congress. Vet Futures is a joint BVA/RCVS initiative which aims to help the veterinary profession to shape its own future by identifying trends and developing a plan for action (see VR, November 29, 2014, vol 175, pp 518, 519-520). Comments are invited on Professor Henry’s blog, which is available at http://vetfutures.org.uk/veterinarybusiness-leadership-an-unsuitable-jobfor-a-woman/
doi: 10.1136/vr.g7484
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Women as veterinary leaders and entrepreneurs Veterinary Record 2014 175: 578-579
doi: 10.1136/vr.g7484 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/23/578
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To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
News & Reports BVA Congress
Women as veterinary leaders and entrepreneurs Despite making up an increasing proportion of the veterinary profession, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in leadership roles. Is this imbalance a problem? And what opportunities are there to address it? A debate at the BVA Congress at the London Vet Show last month sought to provide some answers, as Laura Honey reports THE veterinary profession has seen a huge gender shift in the past decade and there are now more female veterinary surgeons than male – of the 19,863 vets practising in the UK, 11,248 are women. ‘Up to 45 years of age, the number of females outstrips the number of males, between 46 and 50 it’s about equal, and then over 50, the males outnumber the females,’ said Jacqui Molyneux, a practice owner and past-president of the RCVS, during a debate about women as veterinary leaders and entrepreneurs during the BVA Congress at the London Vet Show on November 21. Although, overall, women outnumbered men in the veterinary profession, there were still twice as many male sole principals than female sole principals, and 3.5 times as many male practice partners as female partners. It had been suggested that this might be because in the age group that was most likely to be undertaking these roles, men still outnumbered women, but it had also been suggested that, in general, women were less likely to want to take on a partner or director role or have an equity stake in a veterinary business. Mrs Molyneux was convinced that women ‘just need a more personal approach’ to be encouraged to go after these sort of roles. Giving evidence that this approach might work, she explained that, in 2012, when she was president of the RCVS, no female candidates had stood for election to the RCVS Council, and so she and her colleagues undertook a campaign whereby
Colette Murphy: the veterinary profession could end up with more effective leaders if more women take on director or partner roles
they went and directly asked women to stand for the election the following year. ‘We had 19 candidates stand, and 10 of them were women. I’m convinced that if somebody just stands up and says “stand for council” the women don’t think that you are talking to them, whereas if you go out and specifically approach them, they stand.’ This was not just a problem unique to the veterinary sector. She pointed out that it had been reported that only 20 per cent of places on the boards of the FTSE 100 companies were occupied by women and only four of those 100 companies had a female chief executive. Also, in the Global Gender Gap index, the UK was ranked 26th in 2014, coming behind all of the Scandinavian countries, and also behind Rwanda, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Burundi.1 And the gender gap did not just affect the roles men and women had within the profession. There also continued to be a significant salary gap between male and female vets. Mrs Molyneux noted that this had been a topic of debate when she was president of the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) four years ago, but the issue had still not been addressed. ‘The [latest] SPVS salary survey has just come out and, on average, there is a 17 per cent differential between male and female vet salaries and that is exactly the same as four years ago. It’s highest in those qualified the longest, up to 25 per cent, so if you’ve been qualified for more than 16 years and you’re a male, then you are likely to earn 25 per cent more than a female with the same number of years qualification,’ she said. It had also been found that even new graduates were being offered different salaries depending on whether they were male or female. The SPVS survey showed that males who were newly qualified were likely to be offered 10 per cent more than the equivalent female.2 Sean Wensley, junior vice-president of the BVA, asked whether this salary gap could be due, in part, to the fact that men were more likely to ask for a pay rise than women. Mrs Molyneux said that, although this was a possible contributing factor, practice owners were finding that, despite the numbers graduating every year, there was a real shortage of vets applying for the jobs that
Women may need a more personal approach to be encouraged to take on senior roles, said Jacqui Molyneux
they advertised. She suggested that the notion that a male vet was more valuable as he would stay longer and wouldn’t leave to have children probably still existed among some practice owners, and that this could lead to them being offered more for the same post. Discussing some of the reasons why women might be more reluctant than men to take on leadership roles, Colette Henry, editor of the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship and the second speaker in the debate, pointed out that there were 4.9 million small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, the category into which veterinary practices fell, but only 17 to 19 per cent of SMEs were led by women. She said that there was evidence to suggest that women were less likely to start or take on a business because they had ‘a higher fear of failure’, ‘less of a belief in their own abilities’ and were ‘more risk aware’ compared to their male counterparts. If women were less likely to lead or get involved in ownership of a veterinary practice then there would be fewer private practices and the number of corporate practices would increase, predicted Professor Henry. However, she also said that if more women undertook director or partner roles, the profession might end up with more effective leaders in the field, as there was evidence that ‘the minute that you start to
578 | Veterinary Record | December 13, 2014
578-580 BVA Congress.indd 578
10/12/2014 16:29
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 21, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
News & Reports put women in visible leadership roles and on boards, lots of different things happen and for the better’.
Addressing the imbalance
Providing some advice on how the veterinary profession could move forward and address the gender imbalance, Professor Henry said that vet schools could play a part in helping to reshape the veterinary entrepreneurship business curriculum. Vet schools had a young, captive audience for five or six years and so they could ‘let these young women know that they are going to be shaped and supported and educated so that they can avail themselves of these leadership roles in the future.’ The corporate sector, through initiatives like joint venture partnerships, could help to prepare people for leadership roles by taking the risk out of the new venture creation and enable women to take on these roles. Mrs Molyneux added that she thought that, nowadays, the influence of out-of-hours clinics made it easier for women to set up their own practice as they would be able to
get a better work/life balance and be there for family life, as veterinary practitioners were no longer required to provide 24-hour care themselves. Concluding the debate, its chair, Gudrun Ravetz, a past-president of SPVS, suggested that a group be started on the BVA community forum (www.bva.co.uk/ community), where members could continue the conversation about the gender issues that still existed and discuss ideas for ways to move forward to ensure that women in the profession were supported and encouraged to reach their aspirations (see also Letters, VR, December 6, 2014, vol 175, p 567). 1. World economic forum (2014) The global gender gap report 2014. www3. weforum.org/docs/GGGR14/GGGR_ CompleteReport_2014.pdf. Accessed December 10, 2014 2. SPVS salary surveys. www.spvs.org.uk/ content/salary-surveys. Accessed December 10, 2014
Continuing the debate Women in leadership roles is the subject of a blog by Collette Henry on the Vet Futures website, which picks up on some of the issues she raised during the debate at the BVA Congress. Vet Futures is a joint BVA/RCVS initiative which aims to help the veterinary profession to shape its own future by identifying trends and developing a plan for action (see VR, November 29, 2014, vol 175, pp 518, 519-520). Comments are invited on Professor Henry’s blog, which is available at http://vetfutures.org.uk/veterinarybusiness-leadership-an-unsuitable-jobfor-a-woman/
doi: 10.1136/vr.g7484
December 13, 2014 | Veterinary Record | 579
578-580 BVA Congress.indd 579
10/12/2014 16:29
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 21, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Women as veterinary leaders and entrepreneurs Veterinary Record 2014 175: 578-579
doi: 10.1136/vr.g7484 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/23/578
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
