We have had the BVA report on the issues of the gender divide in veterinary industry and how it’s affecting the income and progress of female vets – a serious issue we are all aware of and, hopefully, working together to resolve.
However, I’d also like to focus on the issue of the gender bias in some clients.
I don’t think I’ve worked in a clinic where I’ve interacted with clients and not, at some point, heard the phrase “I’d like to see the male vet please”, and even sometimes “the older male vet”. In fact, I once had a client with a dying dog who telephoned and was undecided whether they should come to us on a weekend as it was “one of the young female vets” on call.
From the horse’s mouth
The quotes above are the clients’ words – not mine – and that’s an important point. While we all have favoured colleagues to work with (who else would enjoy sniffing the Endorid with me?), I hope I haven’t ever biased a client towards one vet over another due to my personal preferences.
I’ve also had to consider, in these situations, maybe the client was expressing a wish to see a particular vet. If they couldn’t recall their name in an industry where there are fewer male vets, maybe this was their way of trying to request a particular vet rather than a preference for gender.
However, is this a societal bias or one engendered from us?
Where fault lies
The media issues of male vets being seen to be in charge in many veterinary TV shows probably doesn’t help, as it re-enforces the social stereotype of males being “in charge”.
I also wonder if it’s mainly females in the household who bring pets to the vets, thus is there an unconscious bias to prefer to see a male vet?
Whatever the cause, this focus for a male vet seems to have an impact. I spoke to a male vet colleague in passing about this and they revealed that, even on occasional locum shifts in clinics where he isn’t well known to the clients, his diary will fill more quickly for consults than his female counterparts. An interesting, yet slightly shocking, glimpse that the gender of our vets is having a direct business impact.
The BVA research found that unconscious gender bias is present in many in the vet industry, so it’s also part of society as a whole.
How do we resolve this?
It’s not going to be easy, or quick, but we all have the power to make a difference.
We control our diaries, that’s the most basic start. We can talk to and support our clients, book their appointment according to their needs and their pets’, and leave the gender of the vet out of the equation.
We also need more female vets in visible leadership roles. The regular use of images of female leaders is one major way to reverse the unconscious gender bias in our industry.
Changing opinions
I recall reading in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink about a student who kept repeating the Implicit Association Test online assessment of racial bias and was disappointed to find he was racist. Yet, one day, he sat the online test and got a neutral score.
What had changed? One thing. He had been watching coverage of track and field events at the Olympics. Constant TV coverage with multiple black athletes in positive situations, competing and winning – these images had changed his unconscious racial bias. So, perhaps we need to SEE more female role models in our industry.
Seeing is believing
Many of these women are out there already, but do we show them enough? Are clinic web sites or company social media channels representative of the diversity of their employees?
I apologise for this, as I’ve been going on about it for a while… but, yes, the media image of the vet clinic is so older white male… still. Will someone please show the strong women in their teams. I know they are there, but does anyone else?
I’d like a future where a client with a dying pet doesn’t have such an ingrained issue with gender they waste previous time considering the gender of the vet as being an important factor in accessing care. We have that within our power.
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