The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7410 p95
22 July 2006

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Further feminisation could mean workforce shortages

Feminisation of the pharmacy profession looks set to continue and could lead to workforce shortages despite increases in the number of pharmacy students, according to researchers at the University of Manchester.

In March 2005, the researchers conducted a survey of around 1,100 third-year pharmacy students at 14 schools of pharmacy in Britain. The aim was to capture data on a number of different topics, including what motivates students to study pharmacy, their career expectations, and whether their expectations are met in the early stages of their careers.

A high proportion of those who responded to the survey — 71.5 per cent — were female, a figure which indicates that the increasing numbers of women qualifying as pharmacists is likely to continue, say the researchers. Since there is evidence that male and female pharmacists follow different work patterns, further feminisation of the profession is certain to have an impact on workforce supply, they add.

If, as previous research suggests, women are likely to work part-time once they reach their 30s, be under-represented in hospital management and be concentrated in temporary and flexible community posts, workforce shortages are likely to continue.

Sarah Willis, a research fellow at the Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies at the University of Manchester, and one of the study authors, told The Journal that, although many female students intend to work part-time or to have career breaks, they are equally, if not more, committed to working as pharmacists. “So I don’t think it is a negative message for the profession. But people who are recruiting for full-time posts might need more than one person for each whole-time post.”

The researchers also found that a high proportion of students want to open their own pharmacy businesses. They warn that the decline in entrepreneurial pharmacy careers may prevent these students from putting their intentions into practice, leading them to become dissatisfied and therefore more likely to leave the profession before retirement.

The trend towards increased representation of ethnic minority groups in pharmacy is also likely to continue, according to the researchers. The single largest ethnic minority group responding to the survey was Indian British, representing 19.2 per cent of respondents. Representation of white males among the students surveyed, and among those who have recently qualified, is falling, with only 9.2 per cent of respondents being from this group.


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