Female vets in Europe earn, on average, 28% less than their male counterparts, a new survey by the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) has found.
“The male/female ratio is approximately 50:50, with a much higher proportion of women amongst veterinarians under 40, indicating an upcoming change in the gender distribution. Women were found being paid considerably less, on average 28%, than their male colleagues,” the FVE says.
It says this may be due to the fact that women take a ‘family break’, work on a more part-time basis (26% versus only 12% of male colleagues) or possibly predominate in certain areas of the profession, which traditionally have attracted lower rates of remuneration.
The full results of the survey are yet to be published by the FVE, which will show the statistics for the profession regarding demographic, work market and financial indicators, the FVE says.
The FVE says that information for the survey was collected from 26 member countries with more than 13,000 veterinarians completing a questionnaire.
In the coming weeks the FVE will publish a report of the survey, establishing bench-marking statistics for the profession pertaining to demographic, work market and financial indicators.
The FVE survey shows that the vast majority (60%) of vets work in clinical practice and predominantly small animal clinical practice. The second most popular sector is public service (19%), education and research (6%) and industry and private research (4%).
The FVE says that a further finding of the survey is that by far the greater proportion of practice revenue is derived from professional non-commercial activities.
“The survey also highlighted a lack of understanding of the importance of core business, legal and financial matters and skills, and the need for the profession to improve its use and uptake of modern IT based marketing and merchandising techniques,” it says.
