Vetnuus | August 2025 9 Leading Article INTRODUCTION In the last 60 years, veterinary medicine has shifted from a male-dominated (nearly 90%) to a mostly female-dominated (about 80%) profession (1). Despite these demographic changes, female veterinarians are still paid less than their male counterparts, have a higher debt-to-income ratio (2) and experience gender discrimination (3). The number of women in the United States becoming mothers has increased over the last 20 years, and in 2016, 86% of women were also mothers by the end of their childbearing age (4). A majority (51%) of working women in the United States say that having children has “made it harder for them to advance” in their careers, compared to 16% of men (4). In particular, women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers specifically experience discrimination and face challenges navigating parenting and demanding careers. One recent study found that young parents were more likely to leave full-time employment in STEM careers compared to their non-parent counterparts and that mothers left at twice the rate of fathers (5). A recent survey of physician mothers found that 66.3% perceive gender discrimination and 35.8% perceive discrimination based on their pregnant or maternal status at work (6). Navigating the challenges of parenting and pursuing a veterinary career contributes to overall wellness among veterinary professionals. Previous research by the authors shows that parental support by veterinary schools and training programs is lacking and that many trainees perceive that having children during their training years (veterinary school, internships and residency training programs) is not feasible (7, 8). There is currently no data regarding maternal discrimination and the effects it may have on veterinarian mothers. The goal of this research was to explore perceived discrimination among veterinary mothers in the United States and was modelled after a study of physician mothers (6) to compare experiences with a similar population. An additional goal was to look at baseline data on decisions to start a family, infertility and post-partum depression in veterinary mothers to inform and direct future research in this area. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Design and Overview This study was cross-sectional in design and used an online anonymous questionnaire, composed of both closed and open-ended questions, that was posted to a social media platform closed group “Moms with a DVM.” Questions were designed to mirror data presented in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (6) that investigated perceived rates of discrimination among physician mothers, so we could compare their results to the experiences of veterinary mothers. Additional questions about infertility, workplace accommodations for parenting, and postpartum depression were added. Participants were eligible if they were over the age of 18 years, identified as a mother or pregnant, had received a DVM or equivalent degree and lived in the United States. The research was reviewed and granted exempt status from the Tufts University Social, Behavioural, and Educational Research Institutional Review Board. The survey was administered by Qualtrics and was posted to the group three times between November 28 and December 10, 2018, with additional posts to sub-groups in the same time frame. “Moms with a DVM” had over 10 thousand members at that time, with approximately 200 new posts per day. Survey Inclusion criteria selected participants who were members of the group “Moms with a DVM” who were over 18 and who self-identified as pregnant or a mother. The questionnaire was composed of closed-ended questions to obtain the following data: demographic information, number and age of children, level of post-veterinary training obtained, type of current employment, whether participants had “ever felt discriminated against” based on 11 factors: their gender, maternal status, being pregnant or breast-feeding, taking maternity leave, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, mental health status, or physical disability [derived from Adesoye et al. (6) study assessing maternal workplace discrimination in physicians]. Additionally, participants were asked about inequities in the workplace due to their maternal status: pay or benefits not equal to peers, not fairly considered for promotion or senior management, treated with disrespect by support staff, held to a higher performance standard than peers, and not included in administrative decision-making (6). Participants were asked to select the top three workplace changes that would be most important “to you as a mother” from a set list. Options included: more flexible weekday schedule, higher pay, longer paid maternity leave, option to work part-time, support with home services, childcare onsite, backup childcare, option to not work on weekends, more vacation days, option to not take on-call, flexibility to work from home, additional support for breastmilk pumping, more sick days, and other (6). In addition, participants were asked about support and accommodations for breastfeeding or pumping, a question about how career choices influenced the timing of pregnancy(ies), and if mothers experienced any infertility issues or post-partum depression. Finally, there was a space for open comments on any aspect of maternal discrimination. Data Analysis Descriptive statistics and frequencies were calculated using statistical software1. To evaluate associations between demographic variables and material discrimination, adjusted logistic region models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals adjusting for age and race/ethnicity (6). For sexual orientation and race/ethnicity, descriptive categories were collapsed into binary variables for the regression analysis since sample sizes in the non-majority individual categories were low (see Table 1). Qualitative data collected in the open comments section were managed using a qualitative data analysis software tool2. Responses were sorted into themes where each response could be tagged in as many thematic categories as appropriate. 1SPSS version 25 and Stata/IC version 14. 2NViVo 12.3.0. >>>10
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