As a result of scandals concerning sexual harassment in Hollywood and in the media, as well as questions
regarding the size of the gender pay gap, considerable attention has recently been paid to questions of gender
diversity and discrimination in organisations. Gender issues would appear particularly salient within the
veterinary profession, not least because women are beginning to outnumber men as practitioners. While this
research on veterinary surgeons was not initially focused on gender, as the study progressed gender became an
issue of such importance that it could not be ignored. Although ‘feminized in numerical terms’, the veterinary
profession and ‘its professional structure and culture remains gendered masculine’. Translated into practice,
this means that although 76 per cent of vet school graduates are currently female, disproportionately few have
risen or are rising through the hierarchy. On the surface it is easy to rationalise this away partly by simply stating
how many female vets appear to sacrifice career for family, but the authors’ aim is to go beyond merely repeating
and reinforcing the common sense view of female reproduction and parenting as the sole explanation for gender
inequality within this and other professions.