The UK gender pay gap currently stands at a shocking (or not?) 18.4% for full time and part time workers according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics.
Sadly, I’m not surprised by this. In the year long mandatory exercise in 2020 for all employers with at least 250 staff to report the difference between male and female salaries, they found that women are overwhelmingly more likely to work for a company where men are, overall, paid more. Only 11.2% of women work for a company where they earn equal to or more than men.
The more you read, the more depressing it seems. But as such a heavily female dominated industry now (over 60%), are these statistics reflected in the veterinary workforce too?
According to the 2021 SPVS (Supporting Vets, Developing Practice) survey results, the overall difference between men and women is 21% . Dishearteningly, the divide has widened by 6% since 2020! The greatest difference is seen in vets over 15 years qualified (20%) and for vets less than 2 years qualified (11%).
Interestingly, the 2-15 years qualified vets, only have an average 7.5% difference so it seems the results are skewed by the 15+ group. Not to say that female vets being paid 7.5% less than male vets is acceptable, but it’s less than the UK average.
So let’s un-pack that…
Men in Leadership Roles
According to the RCVS, the number of male Diploma holders, RCVS specialists and RCVS Fellows dwarfs the number of females with these qualifications. Furthermore, research in other industries shows that men are more likely to assume leadership roles and therefore higher paid roles than their female counterparts.
And this tracks in our profession. There are three and a half times as many male partners and four times as many male directors in vet practices! Unsurprisingly, these men are receiving bigger pay packets than the female vets still working as assistant vets in this demographic, thus pushing that gender pay gap even wider.
Women and flexible working
I also think women are more likely to embrace flexible and part-time working while navigating life as vet with children and care responsibilities. This is not to assume that women are supposed to be the primary care giver, but research indicates that two thirds of women are the primary child care providers in their family.
Discrimination from the top?
Lastly, do we need to suggest that there’s still some gender discrimination when it comes to pay-rises and career progression? If we know that the majority of clinical directors are men, are there still some who look favourably on their male vet employees – assume they are more capable, they’re working harder, they get on with their boss better… I’m not pointing fingers but I also don’t think this doesn’t exist in some practices in the UK.
What Does Change Look Like?
You may have noticed I’m a salary transparency fan, but something we can change before people even get into jobs is to indicate a salary range on veterinary job adverts.
There are still a huge number of practices who don’t state their salary range for roles advertised and this is a huge issue. As we saw, there is a particularly large disparity in pay between male and female vets less than 2 years graduated. Women are notoriously likely to undersell and undervalue themselves when it comes to salary negotiation, and what time to lack confidence the most than when you’re applying to your very first job.
Salary transparency on job adverts not only mean that more people are likely to apply for your role, but crucially that they have an even platform to negotiate pay package from. This supports women in feeling confident to ask for a salary they deserve and protects them from self-sabotage.
If someone applies for a job, unaware of expected salary, they may ask for a figure significantly below the another candidate with no idea they are doing so, only to realise they are earning less than their male colleagues once they’re in the job.
There is currently no accountability for vet practices who pay their male and female employees unequally.
It will be interesting to see what the statistics look like in 10 years’ time when even more female vets have made their way into the profession. Will there be a more even split of male and female clinical directors and practice partners? And will this reflect a more equal pay? I’d like to hope so, but there is no reason to push for and expect change now.
ThisVetCan 