Challenges, opposition and obstacles had to be overcome by the early female pioneers in veterinary medicine in the United States. Here is a timeline of some of the significant milestones achieved by women who have helped pave the way for women succeeding in the profession.<\/p>\n
1903<\/strong> Mignon Nicholson graduated from McKillip Veterinary College in Chicago. However, nothing is known about her veterinary career.1<\/sup><\/p>\n 1910<\/strong> Elinor McGrath, Chicago Veterinary College, and Florence Kimball, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, graduated with their veterinary degrees. Both women chose a type of veterinary practice that was uncommon at the time\u2014they were small animal veterinarians. The nation was still heavily based on a farming economy; building a veterinary practice around pets was highly unusual. Kimball left veterinary medicine shortly after earning her DVM to become a nurse; McGrath practiced veterinary medicine for 37 years.1<\/sup><\/p>\n 1933<\/strong> Patricia O’Connor Halloran, graduates from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and becomes the first female zoo veterinarian, working at the Staten Island Zoo.2,3<\/sup><\/p>\n 1938<\/strong> There are 21 female veterinarian graduates in the country, and in 1939 another 10 join their ranks. There are approximately 5,000 male veterinarians belonging to the AVMA in 1939.2<\/sup><\/p>\n 1945<\/strong> Captain Thais de Tienne, who graduated from Washington State University in 1938, becomes the first woman to be commissioned in the Army Veterinary Corps.3<\/sup><\/p>\n 1947<\/strong> Dr. Mary Knight Dunlap, who graduated from Michigan State University in 1933, is the founder of the Association for Women Veterinarians, which first convened during the AVMA annual meeting in Cincinnati. Later, Dr. Dunlap recalled: \u201cI felt that I had a duty to other women who might in their ignorance of actual conditions desire to enter the field. It is the duty of a pioneer to blaze a trail, to set up markers for the guidance of those who come after.\u201d For 66 years and during several name changes, the organization was a source of encouragement and, at times, a force for change. It was disbanded in 2013.1<\/sup><\/p>\n 1949<\/strong> Alfreda Johnson Webb graduates from Tuskegee Institute\u2019s School of Veterinary Medicine, and Jane Hinton graduates from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. They are the first two African-American women to earn veterinary degrees.3<\/sup><\/p>\n 1957<\/strong> Phyllis Lose graduates from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and becomes the first female equine veterinarian.4<\/sup><\/p>\n 1963<\/strong> The Federal Equal Pay Act is passed into law.<\/p>\n 1964<\/strong> There are 277 female veterinary graduates in the United States.2<\/sup> The Civil Rights Act is passed, barring job discrimination based on gender.<\/p>\n 1969-1970<\/strong> The national average for veterinary medical college male enrollment is 89 percent.5<\/sup><\/p>\n 1972<\/strong> Title IX of the Education Amendments, which abolished gender discrimination in federally funded education, is passed into law. \u201cThe thought was that women would get married, start families and drop out of the program,\u201d notes Bonnie V. Beaver, DVM, Dipl. ACVD, a professor at Texas A&M University and a past AVMA president, of the mindset before 1972. \u201cThe profession needed veterinarians and it was thought that it wasn\u2019t worth the risk to have a woman take a seat that could be occupied by a man. This was the thought in many industries.\u201d6<\/sup> Catherine Tull, graduates from the University of Texas School of Public Health, becomes the first female veterinarian in the Air Force Veterinary Corps. Joanne Brown, graduates from University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, becomes the first active-duty woman to become a colonel in the Army Veterinary Corps.3<\/sup><\/p>\n 1980<\/strong> President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8 as National Women\u2019s History Week.<\/p>\n 1987<\/strong> Congress declared March as National Women\u2019s History Month.<\/p>\n 1996<\/strong> Dr. Mary Beth Leininger becomes the first female president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. She was a 1967 Purdue DVM graduate.3<\/sup><\/p>\n 1998<\/strong> Shirley D. Johnston, DVM, PhD, becomes the Founding Dean of Western University of Health Science\u2019s new College of Veterinary Medicine, the first female dean to head a college of veterinary medicine.7<\/sup> Ten years later, she noted: \u201cGender issues that the profession still struggles with include salary differences between men and women, the paucity of women leaders as deans and department heads in our colleges, and the importance of striking a gender balance in our admission and graduation processes. I believe that our profession will be strongest if it looks like the populations we serve, with similar representation of men and women and full participation by people of color. Being a woman has affected my veterinary career in many ways, most of them positive, but it has not defined nor limited my career.\u201d8<\/sup><\/p>\nThe 1930s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 1940s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 1950s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 1960s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 1970s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 1980s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 1990s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The 2000s\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n