Women in AVMA's 2014 House of Delegates, with some Government Comparisons

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University and Julie Kumble, Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts


In April 2013, we reported on the gender makeup of the AVMA’s House of Delegates (HOD).[i]  We thought readers might be interested in seeing an update of the current composition of this important legislative body of the veterinary profession in as they meet for their semi-annual HOD meeting this week in Denver.[ii]

Graph 1 below shows that 22 (31.4%) of the 70 HOD delegates are women.[iii]  This is a higher proportion than we reported last year when women comprised 25% of the HOD delegates. The percentage of female delegates representing the 52 states (including Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia) is  26.9% and the percentage representing the allied organizations is 44.4%.

Graph 1. Percentage of women and men in current HOD (July 1, 2014) showing total percentage, and also segmented by those who represent states and those who represent affiliated organizations.
(Data from AVMA, www.avma.org, July 1, 2014)

The proportion of women in the HOD does not represent the full story with respect to voting power, however. This is because the voting power for delegates representing state associations (including Puerto Rica and the District of Columbia) is weighted proportionate to the number of AVMA members in each particular state.

For example, delegates from the ten states with the most AVMA members carry approximately half of the total votes apportioned to all states. Because eight of these ten delegates are men (including the delegates from the five largest states), the weighting of male votes is disproportionately high compared to the total number of delegates.

Though the female representation of the allied organizations is higher (44%), the impact of their aggregate voting power is not realized proportionate to their numerical presence in the HOD because these organizations carry only two votes each.  Therefore, in the aggregate, the affiliated organizations provide less than 10% of the total weighted voting power of the HOD, with the other 90% coming from delegates representing state associations.

This is not to diminish the substantial progress that has been made in women’s representation in the House during the past year. Not only has the proportion of women delegates increased substantially, as noted above, but the gender ratio of the alternate delegates for the 10 largest states is now 50%. If some of these alternate delegates become delegates in the next few years, this by itself will have a substantial impact on the weighted vote of the body.

As we did in our story in 2013, we again match our HOD gender profile with data from the US Congress. We also added governors for one additional point of comparison. (See graph 2, below.)

Graph 2. Percentage of women and men delegates in current HOD (July 1, 2014) and of three governing bodies (US Senate and House of Representatives; and State Governors).
(Data from AVMA, www.avma.org, July 1, 2014, and other sources.)

Scholars generally recommend a minimum of 30% women in leadership positions to achieve a critical mass where they effectively influence policy and decision-making.  Unlike in the US Congress and governorships, we have reached that 30% point in the HOD.  Though we have not yet reached the threshold in weighted voting power within the House, we are optimistic considering the progress over the past year and the impact that the Women's Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative also may be having to increase awareness for the importance in achieving more women in leadership positions.  This is a favorable sign in a profession that is now well over 50% women.   

The authors extend thanks to Nathan Watson '17 for his assistance in preparing this story.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

[i] Smith, Donald F. and Julie Kumble. Women’s Leadership in the U.S. Congress and the AVMA’s House of Delegates: Exploring Parallels and Looking Forward. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, April 28, 2013.

[ii] The House of Delegates meets just prior to the AVMA Convention (July 24-25, 2014).

[iii] This includes on delegates, not alternate delegates (delegates are non voting). The proportion of women among alternates is currently 34.1%.

WVLDI Marks its First Anniversary with Programs at the AVMA Convention in Denver

Sometimes change happens quickly. Occasionally, important things happen very quickly. 

And that’s the case with WVLDI—the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative—often simply called “Wivaldi” (like the classical composer, Vivaldi, but with a “W”). 

Here’s the story.

At last year’s AVMA meeting in Chicago, Dr. Karen Bradley stood for re-election for the position of chair of the House Advisory Council (HAC) of the AMVA’s House of Delegates (HOD).  When the voting was completed, not only was she replaced by a man as chair, but male HOD delegates were selected to fill the three open seats on the seven-person HAC.  As I wrote last year on this site, “Five Days in July”,

The stunning outcome reverberated across the floor and spilled out into the halls as the seven-member House Advisory Committee returned to being all male, having had only two women members in its history.[i]

Many people, men as well as women, were disappointed. AVMA president, Dr. Douglas Aspros shared an observation that would prove prescient. “A historic convention”, he said, referring to the fact that it was the Association’s sesquicentennial, “but bad outcomes for the HOD and great grist for the mill as we advocate for change.”[ii]

Shortly after the meeting ended, Karen Bradley sat at lunch. Composed, self-assured, and even smiling at times, she conferred with colleagues, considering how women could improve their leadership platform in an association where everyone seemed to acknowledge the desirability to have more women engaged, but no one seemed to know how it could be accomplished.

The interest in developing a group to support women’s leadership grew during the day. Dr. Stacy Pritt, who would become Vice President of the future WVLDI, described the momentum as “palpable, with people rapidly signing up to join a Facebook initiative, and plans for a web site and logo were being solidified.”  Under her leadership, those plans came to fruition within just a few short weeks after the Convention.[iii]

Dr. Karen Bradley, President WVLDI

(Photo provided by Dr. Bradley, 2013)

Less than two months later (September 11), Dr. Bradley hosted a conference call that included six women and two men. Three, including herself, are members of the HOD, and two were past presidents of the AVMA. There was one dean, and one dean emeritus. There was also a faculty member from a veterinary college, and a representative from a women’s foundation in Massachusetts.  These nine agreed to become the founding directors of WVLDI, with Dr. Bradley agreeing to serve as the inaugural president.[iv]

Almost immediately, WVLDI established Facebook and Linked In pages that energized grass roots discussions among its members. Lectures and seminars were presented at the North American Veterinary Conference in January, and the Western Veterinary Conference a month later. A presentation given at the Denver student symposium in mid-March ignited student interest that had been kindled at a course in Women’s Leadership held at Cornell two weeks earlier.[v]  Student chapters of WVLDI were quickly established at three colleges,[vi] and a news article on that topic appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.[vii]

Several aspiring female leaders have benefited already from the WLVDI’s mentorship and sponsorship.  They are participating in AVMA-sponsored leadership development programs and serve on AVMA committees.

In February, financial support and sponsorship was received by Ceva. In announcing her support for WVLDI, Dr. Karen Padgett, Ceva’s chief operations officer, companion animal (US), said, “We recognize how important it is to support the advancement of women to leadership, policy and decision-making positions within all areas of professional veterinary activity.”[viii] 

The AVMA’s support for the initiative is strong, and also includes financial commitment, as justified in a March 18^th press release,

The WVLDI’s commitment to diversity and achieving leadership excellence in every sector of veterinary medicine is a natural fit with the AVMA’s strategic goal of enhancing participation and engagement of our membership through the creation of a culture of inclusion, transparency and community. [ix]

 From July 25th – 28^th, WVLDI will be active at the AVMA Convention

Friday, July 25^th, 1:00 – 4:50 pm

Colorado Convention Center, Room 702

Workshop: Develop Practical Skills for Becoming Confident and Effective Leaders[x]

Sunday, July 27^th, 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Colorado Convention Center, Room 207

The Initiative to Develop Women Leaders in Veterinary Medicine (Hot Topics Session)

Monday, July 28^th, 8:00 – 11:50 am

Colorado Convention Center

Women’s Leadership Development Symposium

8:00 - 8:50       Women’s Leadership: Minding the Gap and Sharing Solutions

9:00 – 9:50      Women of Vetlandia: Secrets to Success in the World of Organized Veterinary Medicine

10:00 - 10:50   Stories from the Trenches: Leaders from Multiple Areas of Veterinary Medicine Share Experiences and Lessons Learned

11:00 – 11:50  Round Table Wrap Up: Q and A Healthy Discussion

Monday, July 28^th, 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Meet and Greet Reception

AVMA Welcome Center, Colorado Convention Center

WVLDI Vision:   To achieve leadership excellence in every sector of veterinary medicine that fully reflects the diversity of the profession and society.

WVLDI Mission:   To support women in seeking and achieving leadership, policy, and decision-making positions within all areas of professional veterinary activity.

As one of the inaugural directors of WVLDI, I warmly invite you to participate in the above activities. Men are critical to the success of this initiative, so regardless of your gender or year of graduation, please get involved if you can. At a minimum, please share your thoughts about balanced representation of our membership in the leadership of all sectors of the profession.

---

[i] Smith, Donald F. "Five Days in July: Catalyzing a New Wave of Women’s Leadership in the AVMA". Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. July 29, 2013.

[ii] Smith, Donald F., Ibid.

[iii] Pritt, Stacy (DVM, MS, CPIA, DACAW; Director IACUC, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center). Email to Donald Smith (Cornell University), July 17, 2014.

[iv] Three other directors, including a student representative and an ex officio representative from the AVMA; one of the original directors had to resign because of other responsibilities.

[v] Smith, Donald F. and Julie Kumble. "Women’s Leadership in Veterinary Medicine: A Course for Veterinary Students". Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. April 2, 2014.

[vi] Cornell, Texas A&M and Virginia-Maryland Regional Colleges of Veterinary Medicine.

[vii] Larkin, Malinda. "Women’s leadership group goes to school". JAVMA News, posted June 18, 2014.

[viii] CEVA US. Women’s Veterinary Leadership Initiative Announces Ceva Animal Health as First Industry Sponsor. www.ceva.us/News, Feb 12, 2014.

[ix] AVMA@Work. "Women’s leadership initiative hitting its stride". March 18, 2014.

[x] Smith, Donald F. and Julie Kumble. "Women’s Leadership Development Workshop Featured at the 2014 AVMA Convention". Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. July 11, 2014.

Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

The Difference Between Mentoring and Advocacy: The Story of Dr. Olive K. Britt

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted March 27, 2014

A recent story at www.veritasdvmblog.com by Cornell student Sarah Khatibzadeh, entitled "A Memorial Tribute to Dr. Charles W. Raker",  described the late professor and surgeon as the consummate teacher and mentor, in addition to acclaiming his transformation leadership in equine surgery. He was the principal founder of New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s and was largely responsible for its success during its  formative decades.

I was privileged to be among the many veterinarians Dr. Raker mentored when I was a large animal surgical resident in the mid-1970s. But 15 years before I and others flocked to New Bolton Center, Dr. Olive Kendrick Britt broke the women’s barrier in equine medicine and surgery. Dr. Raker was her mentor, and also her advocate.

In a book on women in veterinary medicine published in 1991 (WOMEN in Veterinary Medicine. Profiles of Success), Dr. Britt wrote about her December 1958 interview with Dr. Raker.

Dr. Charles Raker interviewed me over the Christmas holidays. “I’d love to have you,” he told me, “but it’s going to be a whale of a battle with the board of regents. I must get them used to the idea that a woman can do what I think you can do. If I win, you’ll know by March."

Olive Britt was born in London, England, when her father was stationed there during World War I. She grew up on a half-million acre ranch in New Mexico with 25,000 head of cattle and horses. “I remember learning to ride in this rugged country without borders,” she later wrote. She would ride anything from a cow to a mule. “I have a photograph of myself, barely three, sitting on Antelope [the family’s Jersey milk cow] and holding a chicken in my arms.”

Olive was an expert horsewoman and experienced a number of career adventures, all involving animals in one way or another, before she enrolled in the College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens, Georgia, in 1955 as one of the two female and 58 male students. "I was thirty-eight years old, but no older than some classmates who were veterans of World War II and Korea." 

Class of 1959, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine
Olive K. Britt is in center, fourth row.

(Photo courtesy of University of Georgia, 1959)

By the time Dr. Britt was nearing the end of her four-year DVM program in Georgia, Dr. Raker was establishing his postgraduate program at New Bolton Center. These were the early days of dedicated clinical training that would, by the mid 1960s, become more formalized into programs eventually serving as qualification for admission into the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

While Dr. Britt felt that she had enough practical experience to start her own practice, she felt that she did not have the knowledge to be a “good equine practitioner.” Upon the advice of a friend who was just finishing his internship at New Bolton Center and who had recommended Olive to Dr. Raker, she was invited to New Bolton Center for an interview. Though she felt her meeting with Dr. Raker had gone well, she knew the competition was overwhelming and that the chance of her getting the only position available at the time, was remote. She made sure that she had several backup plans for employment available.

When the letter from Dr. Raker arrived in March, she carried it for a long time, mustering the courage to open it. She was overjoyed to read the opening sentence, “You have been accepted as our first woman intern in the large-animal clinic and are to report July 1.”

Dr. Britt stayed at New Bolton for two years, completing what was then referred to as an internship-residency. Though she had many fine teachers, she attributed her success to Dr. Raker. “He fashioned in me the knowledge and confidence to become an accomplished equine practitioner.”

As her mentor, Dr. Raker was active in all aspects of advancing Dr. Britt’s career, whether it was helping her learn new surgical techniques or insisting in the company of clients, who were unwilling to let a woman work on their valuable horses, that she was up to the task. “Olive, you do a beautiful job,” he once said almost under the nose of a reluctant client. “These people have to realize that they are not to look at you as a woman but as a veterinary surgeon. If he doesn’t want you to do it [the surgery], he can take his horse elsewhere.”

And that is where Dr. Raker upped the ante from mentor to advocate. Here was one of the country’s leading equine surgeons, and the person most responsible for building New Bolton’s reputation as the premier equine facility in the country. Two years earlier, he had put his reputation on the line by advocating to an unenthusiastic Board of Regents that it was time to break the gender barrier so he could hire a woman as his only intern. Having watched his resident develop into a clinician who had gained his confidence, he could now advocate for her to work as the primary surgeon on his cases. It would have been so easy for Dr. Raker to tell a skeptical and reluctant client that he would (albeit under protest) do the surgery himself, with his trainee assisting. But instead, he translated his confidence in Dr. Britt into action.

That is the definition of an advocate. As a mentor, Dr. Raker had shared knowledge and experience with his trainee. But as an advocate, he put his personal reputation and the reputation of the institution on the line. He did that, not only because he had the ability to assess accurately the level of competence of his staff, but also because he was a great teacher and a great leader for all of his trainees.

Veterinarians need mentors throughout their lives. But those who are so fortunate to have even one true advocate, especially early in their career, are greatly blessed.

Following her residency at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Britt went on to a distinguished career as the first women equine practitioner in Virginia. She practiced for many years both as a solo practitioner, then with a partner, Dr. M.D. Kingsbury. Together, they built a clinic and an equine practice that employed as many as five doctors. She returned to solo practice in 1985.

Dr. Britt passed in March 2006, at the age of 88.

Dr. Smith can be reached at dfs6@cornell.edu

Come to the Women's Leadership Symposium at the WESTERN VETERINARY CONFERENCE

By Donald F. Smith
February 11, 2014

As millions turn on their television sets tomorrow morning to watch the fierce US-Canada women's hockey rivalry play out in Sochi, an expert in the sport says there may be something else to watch for than fast skating and great stick handling.

A.J. Mleczko, former Harvard hockey standout,
and member of the 1998 USA team that won gold in Nagano

Mleczko comments on what many hockey fans have observed in women's and men's style of hockey. Besides the lack of checking--that is a non-no for women--the former Harvard star says that women tend to pass the puck to teammates more than men, to ensure the best possible angle or opening for a goal. Also looking for the greatest likelihood of a shot going into the net, they sometimes delay too long and thereby get too close to the net where the chance of finding the opening is snuffed by the goalie or other defensive players. 

Men, on the other hand, are more inclined to take low-yield shots, many from further away from the net. They are less concerned with teamwork than women from the standpoint of passing the puck to get the perfect shot by a teammate, or finding the perfect angle or opening from which to release the puck themselves. 

Does this sound familiar?

Join the directors of the Women's Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative (WVLDI) for a four-hour interactive symposium on Women's Leadership in Veterinary Medicine at Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas. It takes veterinary leadership to a new level. Join us, please.

Monday, Feb 17, 2014; 8:00am - 12:00pm

Presenters: Karen Bradley, Julie Kumble, Douglas Aspros and Donald Smith

For additional information, please go to 
http://veterinarylegacy.blogspot.com/2014/02/womens-leadership-in-veterinary.html


We are grateful to the American Veterinary Medical Association and 
also CEVA Animal Health
for their commitment and generous support.