Dorothy Segal entered Michigan State University’s veterinary
school in the 1930s, she was one of seven women in the class. She
recalls the dean telling them that they didn’t belong in the school
or the profession.
Dorothy Segal entered Michigan State University’s veterinary school in the 1930s, she was one of seven women in the class. She recalls the dean telling them that they didn’t belong in the school or the profession.
“There’s no place for women here. Go back to the kitchen,” Segal recalled him saying. “I made up my mind that he was going to like me when I was done.”
At age 93, Segal of Grand Blanc, Mich., has lived to see her chosen profession become dominated by women.
Today, there are about 2,500 licensed veterinarians who practice in Michigan, and about half are women, said Karlene Belyea, director of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association. And about 87 percent of MSU’s 431 students pursuing veterinary medicine degrees are women.
“It’s a good thing,” said Segal, who graduated from MSU in 1943.
AN EXTREME SHIFT
The ascent of women “has happened in higher education across the board, and it’s happened in extreme” in veterinary medicine, said Christopher Brown, the dean of MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, the only veterinary school in the state.
Women now practice in every facet of the veterinary business, operating small businesses like Dr. Kari Nugent, who runs a mobile fleet of animal clinics and specializes in hospice care for pets in western Wayne County, Mich. Or Dr. Cheryl Good, who owns Dearborn (Mich.) Family Pet Care, which has 15 employees, all women.
Or Dr. Mary Beth Leininger, who was running a Plymouth, Mich., animal clinic when she became the first female president of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 1996.
Harvard economist Claudia Goldin said the workday of a typical clinic veterinarian can give women, if they are struggling to balance children and family life, more flexibility in a professional career.
Although the training is rigorous, the work settings for veterinarians can follow a family-friendly routine. A small animal clinic is open during the day, has no late or emergency hours and lends itself to flexibility for part-time work.
“When you choose occupations, you also choose because you have a passion for something,” said Goldin, who has analyzed why women gravitate to certain professions. But women also are balancing career callings with practical needs.
Some experts have said that women, because of feminine-associated qualities such as nurturing and caretaking, are well-suited to the care of pets.
Dr. Cassandra Pohl, 40, of Canton, Mich., works as a vet at Dearborn Family Pet Care. Pohl entered the field because she loves animals, but relishes the flexibility it gives her. She works three days a week, plus two Saturdays a month.
“I can make a good living part-time and my husband works full-time. I can be home with the kids more often,” said Pohl, mother of boys ages 9 and 7. “I was full-time until I had my first son, and then it was very easy to go part-time after that.”
JUST ONE BUMP IN THE ROAD
Only once in Pohl’s career has a client asked that a pet be seen by a male veterinarian.
“My first year of practice, I did deal with a client who was really not very nice to women. … He wanted a male vet. That was really is the only time that I ran into that,” Pohl said. “I’ve worked in three hospitals and they were all owned by women.”
Jennifer Stokes, who is to graduate from MSU’s vet program in 2011, said she first thought of becoming a veterinarian when she heard a career day speaker in grade school.
“She was a woman, matter of fact,” said Stokes, 25. “I thought it was cool, and I stuck with it over the years.”
Stokes said she didn’t consider the salary or workplace flexibility. But she said she and her classmates consider the flexibility of working part-time or full-time “a pretty attractive option for women when a lot of us are perceiving having a family and kids” down the road.
“With women, we are more caretakers and that does show when we’re taking care of other people’s animals,” said Stokes. “I think that aspect is positive when owners look at us. … With animals, you want to have compassion. I think women might have a niche to do that a little better than men.”
A SHIFT IN ATTITUDES
It once was believed that women couldn’t handle large animals, such as cows and horses, so a vet needed to be a brawny fullback-type. But compared with a 1,700-pound horse, the size difference between a 130-pound woman and a 200-pound man doesn’t amount to much. Whatever concerns once may have existed are mitigated now by education, and the availability of medications such as tranquilizers to subdue large animals.
“It wasn’t about muscles. It was about smarts,” said Dr. Paula Rode, the immediate past president of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, who owns Chelsea Animal Hospital.
Even as women dominate the field of veterinary medicine, they don’t make up the majority of veterinarians who own their own practice or clinic. To do so means a vet also is a small-business owner, with all the time commitments and duties that entrepreneurship entails.
In Michigan, 546 male veterinarians own practices, compared with 261 women, according to the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association.
“As the expansion of the female part of the profession continues, they will become practice owners. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t think there’s a glass ceiling,” said Brown, MSU’s veterinary dean.
“The profession is stronger and healthier because it’s become more diversified,” Brown said. “It was bad when it was predominantly all male. … It may not be good for it to be all-female either. Finding that mix, where it reflects society, is the long-term challenge for the profession.”
Women veterinarians outnumber men as barriers fall away
What a difference a couple of generations make.
Female veterinarians in the U.S. now outnumber male veterinarians. The numbers flip-flopped in 2009, according to figures released last month by the American Veterinary Medical Association, which reported that women lead men, 44,802 to 43,196, in the field.
The trend is especially pronounced in Michigan; women account for 87 percent of the enrollment at the only veterinary school in the state.
A shift can be seen in some other medical fields as well. Among pharmacists, women overtook men in the profession in 2008, according to projections from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. In the fall of 2009, about 61 percent of students pursuing pharmacy degrees were women. About 70 percent of recently graduated optometrists are women, according to the American Optometric Association.
The attraction to these professions is fueled partly by the desire for careers that provide the flexibility to combine family and work, Harvard economist Claudia Goldin said.
“It really has to do to with workplace flexibility … and can often mean, ‘Can I leave at 11 to take my kid to the dentist?'” Goldin said.
