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Gender and Vet Med
Feb. 13th, 2013 05:29 pmSo, one of the first times I've had to face blatant sexism. One of my clients said that I couldn't be the veterinarian because I was too young and I was female. You're right, sir! I'm female! In all my years living as a cis-gendered woman, I never noticed! *sigh* I can show you my DVM, though, meaning I have a doctorate despite being female and you are an idiot.
It really made me think about the gender dynamics in my profession, though. In my few months working as a vet, I've had four older women thank me for being a veterinarian, for getting a doctorate. It always leaves me feeling strange, because while I'm very proud of what I've done and I'm happy that seeing me succeed can make other women feel good, I'm nothing special. About 90% of graduating classes at vet schools are female now. I've been taught by some of the women who made that transition possible, and they are all amazing and tough people, even the ones I didn't personally like. I feel a bit like I'm getting credit for all their hard work, for their determination to stick through despite being told repeatedly that they didn't belong, that they didn't have the strength for the profession, that they'd eventually want to abandon the profession to have a family. (The fact that this was being told to women just 30-50 years ago makes me both sad and proud of how far we've come.) Me, I just had to deal with the normal issues of too much to learn and not enough time, too much money owed and not enough made, non-gendered problems.
I don't really have anywhere to go with this train of thought, I suppose. Just random tired musings brought about by stupid clients.
It really made me think about the gender dynamics in my profession, though. In my few months working as a vet, I've had four older women thank me for being a veterinarian, for getting a doctorate. It always leaves me feeling strange, because while I'm very proud of what I've done and I'm happy that seeing me succeed can make other women feel good, I'm nothing special. About 90% of graduating classes at vet schools are female now. I've been taught by some of the women who made that transition possible, and they are all amazing and tough people, even the ones I didn't personally like. I feel a bit like I'm getting credit for all their hard work, for their determination to stick through despite being told repeatedly that they didn't belong, that they didn't have the strength for the profession, that they'd eventually want to abandon the profession to have a family. (The fact that this was being told to women just 30-50 years ago makes me both sad and proud of how far we've come.) Me, I just had to deal with the normal issues of too much to learn and not enough time, too much money owed and not enough made, non-gendered problems.
I don't really have anywhere to go with this train of thought, I suppose. Just random tired musings brought about by stupid clients.
