Women and pharmacy
Pharmacy works in many positive ways for women. It is an obvious career choice, since it offers flexibility, variety, security and the chance to come and go at different stages of a professional life. Although
it is historically a male profession it has been more welcoming to
women than other professions. Ambitious women can rise to the top:
President or Secretary and Registrar of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society,
or head of a school of pharmacy, for example, are not posts barred
to women.
This welcoming reputation has clearly filtered down to schools because
over 60 per cent of pharmacy undergraduates are women, a proportion that
has remained steady for at least the past five years. However, the presence
of so many women on the Register may not be altogether a good thing for
the profession or even for women pharmacists — when the comments
made in this week’s Broad
spectrum (p604) are considered.
Historically, the authors argue, the “feminisation” of a
profession has led to a deterioration in working conditions, less favourable
remuneration and a lowering of the status of those working in that profession.
Women, although they make up the bulk of a profession, do not necessarily
reach the highest point on the career ladder. In a traditional male environment,
it is suggested, the posts carrying most responsibility tend to be taken
by men and women tend to dominate in the lowest status, most poorly paid
jobs — although we can all think of exceptions.
Pharmacy is not the only health profession that is undergoing feminisation.
Dame Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, warned
in 2004 that the attractions of medicine to women would in time undermine
the political strength of medicine and that remuneration and the status
of doctors would gradually be eroded.
Whether or not such forces are at work in pharmacy is a moot point. The
changes seen in working practices, such as the increasing development
and use of clinical skills and the reduction in the numbers of independent
pharmacy owners, are not necessarily a result of the feminisation of
the profession, although, it could be argued, they might feasibly be
a reflection of women’s interests.
Pharmacy leaders and policy makers — both men and women — should
certainly think about the future consequences of these changes to the
profession, and consider what impact increasing numbers of women may
have on workforce planning and career development.
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