Female leaders call for action over inequality

A former president of the RCVS has called for more to be done to tackle systemic sexism and stamp out gender inequality within the UK veterinary profession.

Speaking at BSAVA Congress, IVC Evidensia chief medical officer Amanda Boag described inequality as the “most important” subject she’d ever spoken about at the event and warned that complacency around the issue would mean change not being delivered for a “long, long time”.

Ms Boag was speaking as part of a stream dedicated to equality and diversity in which she drew on her own experiences of gender inequality and bias as a female leader in the profession.

Senior roles

She said: “As a senior woman in the profession, I have been frequently told there is no problem, because 85% of new graduates are women and that in fact the profession is sexist against men.

“I have also been told that because I have had a number of senior roles – RCVS president, founding president of the European College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, and senior business roles – that is a demonstration that sexism doesn’t exist in the veterinary profession.

“But I have to say, that’s a load of rubbish. None of that means we don’t live and work in a profession that does not still have systemic sexism laced through it.”

Gender bias

After acknowledging that being a white, cisgender, heterosexual mother placed her in a relatively privileged position, Ms Boag outlined numerous instances in her career when she faced gender bias – including being told that her feminism would be the biggest barrier to her career progression – as well as having some of her peers questioning her ability to lead and be a mother.

The relative lack of female leaders was also discussed in the wake of the latest SPVS salary survey that not only showed a widening of the gender pay gap in favour of men, but also that twice as many males than females occupied leadership positions in the profession.

Ms Boag said: “I feel this issue is the most important subject I have ever spoken on at BSAVA.

“It is so crucial that we stand up and recognise that this is a problem in our society and in our profession. I feel that it is incumbent on those of us who are senior female leaders to take up that mantle and not just say that there isn’t a problem.”

Challenge

She added: “It is not that women don’t want to progress and have a leadership role, it is that they don’t want to progress in the way that they see role-modelled and I think we really need to challenge that.

“That said, I do think we are making progress in the profession – we have the first all-female leadership team at the RCVS, which is to be hugely celebrated, there are some fantastic women coming through across the profession in a lot of the corporate groups, and the percentage of clinical directors who are women is between 45% and 50% and moving up, so there are really good things happening.

“But there is still more to do, and we can’t just be complacent and leave it and hope it will just change in time. It might do, but it will take a very, very long time.”

Tackling issue

Closing the diversity stream, the co-founder of WellVet and the Vet Mums group, Liz Barton, urged employers across the sector to take the necessary steps to tackle the issue.

She said: “Let’s reimagine what the veterinary profession looks like with parents supported through extended leave and return to work, where women with endometriosis are supported, where the impact of menopause is acknowledged and addressed, so women can continue throughout their careers to realise their full potential.

“A profession where there is no gender pay gap and women have pension pots with the same financial independence in older age as men.

“And where there is proportionate representation of women in leadership roles thanks to having redefined what leadership looks like – creating flexible residencies designed around those with parenting and caring responsibilities, so that career progression paths allow for the ebb and flow of those responsibilities.

“I would encourage employers and organisations across the profession to allow the time, the space, the team support and the resources to get this important work done.”