WOMEN IN PRACTICE

(The following is reprinted with permission from a press release courtesy of the American Veterinary Medical Association)

(Schaumburg, Ill.) Fifty years ago, women encountered difficulties enrolling at U.S. veterinary schools and there were very few female veterinarians. The practice of discrimination was so accepted that some veterinary schools sent out rejection letters to female applicants telling them, frankly, that the school didn't accept women. Today, four veterinary schools or colleges have female deans, and veterinary classes average 75 percent women. Now—for the first time in history—female veterinarians outnumber men, according to a news story appearing in the June 15 issue of the JAVMA.

Dr. Dorothy Segal, who graduated from Michigan State with a veterinary medical degree in 1943, remembers the way it was when she entered the profession: "The dean at the time did not want women. He said, 'Go back to the kitchen.' He literally said that. The first speech he gave was, 'What are you doing here?' and he was not joking." After graduation, Dr. Segal sometimes faced similar reactions from clients.

Fifty years ago, veterinary medicine was described as "no job for a lady." People felt that handling large farm animals required a man's strength. Dr. Segal and her peers proved that a woman could handle herself on a farm—or in Dorothy's case, under a circus tent treating big cats.

Today, the gender questions about veterinary medicine are very different—nobody can quite explain why veterinary medicine is so overwhelmingly attractive to women. Law schools and medical schools are open to women as well, but women make up just 48 percent of law and medical school classes, according to the American Bar Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges.