Vetnuus | August 2025 11 Leading Article RESULTS A total of 1,160 respondents participated in the survey. There was a response rate of approximately 10% based on the total number of members in the group. Four surveys were removed for not meeting inclusion criteria, and 74 were removed for incomplete quantitative data (only participants with complete questionnaires were retained), leaving an analytic sample of 1,082 participants. The age of the participants ranged from 24 to 71 years old, M= 36.3, SD= 5.1; demographic characteristics are listed in Table 1. Of the 1,082 respondents, 819 (75.7%) reported experiencing at least one form of perceived discrimination (M= 2.6, SD= 2.1, range 0–10), see Figure 1. There was overlap between maternal and nonmaternal discrimination, with 317 (29.3%) participants reporting both types. Likelihood of experiencing maternal discrimination did not vary significantly by the demographic variables, although veterinarians who worked in large animal practice were more likely to have experienced discrimination (Table 1). Over half of the sample (n = 632, 58.4%) reported experiencing at least one instance of perceived inequity in the workplace due to status as a mother (M = 1.23, SD = 1.4, range 0– 5) (Figure 2). Specifically, 346 (32%) reported not being included in administrative decision making, 312 (28.8%) reported having pay or benefits not equal to peers, 289 (26.7%) were treated with disrespect by support staff, 206 (19.0%) felt they were held to a higher performance standard than peers, and 179 (16.5%) felt they were not fairly considered for a promotion or senior management position due to their status as a mother. Participants were asked to report the top three workplace changes that would make a difference to them as a mother: 602 (55.6%) selected a more flexible weekday schedule, 544 (50.3%) longer paid maternity leave, 324 (29.9%) childcare availability onsite, 298 (27.5%) having the option to not work on weekends, 288 (26.6%) having the option to work part-time, 248 (22.9%) higher pay, 224 (20.7%) having the option to not take on-call, 209 (19.3%) backup childcare, 159 (14.7%) additional support for breastmilk pumping, 119 (11.0%) more vacation days, 97 (9.0%) flexibility to work from home, 107 (9.9%) more sick days, 15 (1.4%) support with home services, and 9 (0.8%) would like other changes. A majority of the sample (906, 83.7%) reported that their career had “definitely” or “maybe” affected the timing of their children. Maternal age at the time of first child ranged from 18 to 44 years (M = 31.2; SD = 3.7). With regard to fertility, 189 (17.5%) of the sample experienced at least one miscarriage, and 192 (17.6%) used fertility treatment due to difficulty conceiving. During the postpartum period, 181 (16.7%) experienced diagnosed postpartum depression, and 353 (32.6%) reported symptoms but no diagnosis, yielding a total of nearly 50% of the study population who experienced symptoms of postpartum depression. See Table 2 for full descriptive results regarding fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum experiences. Of the 953 participants who needed accommodations for breastfeeding and/or pumping while at work, 130/953 (13.6%) reported their accommodations as excellent, 454/953 (47.6%) as adequate, 258/953 (27.1%) as inadequate, and 111/953 (11.6%) had no accommodations provided by their workplace. Of the 521 individuals who needed breastfeeding and/or pumping accommodations at continuing education or a conference, 24/521 (4.6%) reported available accommodations as excellent, 152/521 (29.2%) reported them as adequate, 189/521 (36.3%) as inadequate, and 156/521 (29.9%) reported experiencing no availability of accommodations. Open-Ended Responses There were a total of 269 meaningful responses to the question, open to any comments on maternal discrimination or challenges in the workplace due to status as a parent. Comments that included “none,”“N/A”, or an incomplete thought were excluded. Comments that illustrate the range of responses for each category are provided in Table 3. Sixty-three responses (23.4%) were coded as “sexist, discriminatory or disrespectful comments made by staff due to maternal or pregnant status.” There were 54 responses (20.1%) regarding pay or promotion status. Of these responses, 20/54 (37.0%) describing losing a job due to maternal or pregnancy status, 14/54 (25.9%) described pay or status (full-time vs. part-time) was negatively impacted by maternal or pregnancy status, 10/54 (18.5%) said their promotion status was negatively impacted based on pregnancy or maternal status, 10/54 (18.5%) described being discriminated against during an interview process due to future or current maternal or pregnancy status, and 10/54 (18.5%) said they were not hired for a job due to pregnant or maternal status. There were 53 comments (19.7%) on issues of time pressure related to childcare and working status; 22/53 (41.5%) described difficulties around lack of a flexible schedule related to securing childcare, 18/53 (33.9%) described lack of ability to take time off to care for sick children, and 11/53 (20.8%) described other types of challenges around childcare and working. Forty-six respondents (17.1%) commented on lack of adequate leave time and/or pay. Thirty-six respondents commented on lack of appropriate time (20/36; 55.6%) or lack of appropriate space (14/36; 38.9%) for pumping. Sixteen respondents (5.9%) commented on safety issues during pregnancy; 12/16 (75%) said they had inadequate accommodations and 4/16 (25%) said they felt unsafe during their pregnancies. Five respondents (1.9%) said they regretted their choice to be veterinarians and/or were actively looking to leave the profession. Eighteen (6.7%) had positive comments and 38 (14.1%) were categorized as “other.” DISCUSSION In this anonymous survey of veterinarians who are also mothers, the vast majority (about 75%) reported experiencing at least one type of perceived discrimination, with nearly 73% of respondents reporting discrimination based on their maternal status. >>>12 Figure 1: Perceived discrimination among 1,082 survey respondents. Respondents could select multiple types of perceived discrimination
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