Rethinking Mentorship: How Unconscious Bias Can Impede Veterinary Leadership Growth

During Women’s History Month, we, as a nation, pay tribute to the pioneering women who helped shape history. However, beyond these notable women, there are countless women whose contributions to society have opened doors for those who came after them. In the veterinary field, specifically, there have been many groundbreaking women who helped pave educational and professional pathways for the generations that followed.  

As we seize new opportunities and drive new conversations to advance gender equity and diversity in the workplace (and world) today, it is critical to understand how the profession has evolved. As the renowned poet and memoirist, Maya Angelou, wrote: “You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been.” 

Let us discuss the factors that transformed the industry into what it is today, areas still in need of improvement, and the actions each of us can take to create a more supportive and understanding profession.  

Then vs. Now 

While veterinary medicine has been long dominated by men, the field now is led by females. In fact, at BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital, 72% of our veterinarians and more than 90% of our paraprofessionals are women. 

The veterinary field was not always this way. Female presence in the veterinary space began just over 100 years ago (1903) when Mignon Nicholson – the nation's first college-trained female veterinarian – graduated from Chicago’s McKillip Veterinary College. Over the years, women gradually made gains in the field, however, the passing of Title IX of the Education Amendments in 1972 propelled even more women to seek out careers in veterinary medicine. The principle underlying Title IX was (and remains) that students shall not be denied educational opportunities, including admissions, financial aid, and student services and counseling, based on sex.  

With the passing of Title IX, ensuring that no educational opportunity would be denied to women on the basis of sex and that women are granted “equal opportunity to aspire, achieve, participate in and contribute to society based on their individual talents and capacities,” the field began to see change. However, it was not until 2009 that the AVMA reported for the first time that female veterinarians outnumbered their male counterparts. 

Mentorship Without Bias 

Despite progress on the practice floor, women representation in leadership roles within organized veterinary medicine groups and within veterinary school administrations remains poor.

Reasons behind the gender disparity in veterinary leadership roles are complex, but there are many ways we, as individuals and as a community, can create change. Mentorship – specifically, cross-racially, -socioculturally, or –gender – is one of those ways. BluePearl’s Medical Quality Manager and practicing Internist, Dr. Jennifer Adler, recently wrote about her gratitude for having a male mentor: 

“He [the prior practice owner] really encouraged me to move into a leadership role in my hospital. He was my mentor, and he helped me see that there was an opportunity to grow in the field beyond seeing patients. This gave me the confidence to stretch, which has been a lot of fun. Today, my hospital has women in the most senior leadership roles. I am always impressed and proud of what we can accomplish at work.” 

By now, most of us have attended meetings or lectures on the importance of mentoring. But how many of us have actually taken on the role of a mentor? Scholarly literature suggests that mentees gain improved confidence, resilience, and career satisfaction, whereas mentors achieve enhanced leadership and communication skills, job satisfaction, and deeper knowledge about diverse experiences and perspectives. Beyond this, mentorship for members of underrepresented groups offers a greater sense of inclusion and social capital. And when mentors are knowledgeable, culturally competent, and understanding of diverse challenges experienced by mentees and their fellow colleagues, mentorship can actually help reduce barriers to success and improve retention. 

Though it should be, cross-gender mentorship is not a commonly occurring phenomenon. Our unconscious biases, and human instinct to gravitate towards people who look and think like ourselves, often prevent us from pursuing these relationships. This is where structured mentorship like BluePearl’s EmERge and House Officer programs come into play. However, even with these structured programs, mentorship opportunities for veterinary professionals from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds continue to fall short.  

Intentional Efforts 

Veterinary professionals and leaders must be intentional about building mentoring relationships with people whose racial, gender, or sociocultural backgrounds differ from their own. It is time we step out of our comfort zones and consciously move beyond our close-minded mentoring. This is not only critical to the long-term success of diversity and inclusion efforts but the viability of the profession.  

In addition to intentional efforts at the individual level, organizational endeavors like the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative, and Mars, Inc.’s #HereToBeHeard global campaign, are helping create more inclusive business environments and a world where all women can thrive. As part of Mars’ Full Potential platform for action on gender equity in its workplaces, #HereToBeHeard elevates the voices of women from all intersections, including race, age, sexuality, religion, and ability, by asking them: “What needs to change so more women can reach their full potential?” The responses will be used to inform the concrete actions Mars will take to close the gender opportunity gap both within its value chain and in broader society. 

Although we do not know what the future holds for this profession, we do know that the steps we take today can and will impact the field for years to come. By improving representation within leadership and fostering supportive, unbiased work environments, we begin to lay an equitable foundation for the next – even more diverse – generation of veterinary professionals and leaders.