The veterinary profession stands at a crossroads. Workforce shortages, burnout and leadership capability gaps present real strategic risks. But there is also a profound opportunity: the chance to reinvent leadership for a profession that is numerically dominated by women yet still struggles to reflect that strength in positions of strategic authority.
Supporting women in leadership isn’t a minority initiative – it is a performance strategy that strengthens collaboration, sustains wellbeing and drives organisational success. When veterinary practices and professional bodies invest in developing leadership systems that work for women, they build organisations that are more inclusive, more resilient and more effective.
For the veterinary profession to thrive in the 21st century it must ensure that its leadership harnesses the full breadth of talent it already possesses. That means more than opening doors; it means equipping women to lead, thrive and shape the future of the profession for everyone.
The challenges faced by veterinary leaders
Across multiple surveys and reports, veterinary professionals describe a profession under strain. Workforce shortages remain a defining problem, with almost half of practices reporting difficulties recruiting veterinarians and support staff. Burnout and heavy workloads are widespread, with high caseloads and emotional labour contributing to job dissatisfaction and turnover. In one survey, nearly 40% of respondents reported feeling overworked, and one third described their workplace as understaffed. Only about one in three felt able to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Leadership and management issues were also highlighted as major contributors to this dissatisfaction[i].
These operational frustrations are reflected at the sector level. The UK’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Workforce Action Plan emphasises that improving leadership, culture and career development is integral to mitigating workforce shortages and strengthening the profession’s future resilience[ii].
In the face of these challenges, it is clear the veterinary profession is not getting the full value it could from the many talented women who seek to build a successful career in animal health. Despite the majority of veterinary professionals now being women in most countries, this demographic shift has not translated into proportional representation in leadership positions – whether in clinical practice ownership, corporate leadership, academia or professional organisations[iii]. This misalignment between workforce composition and leadership representation reveals a structural challenge: the profession excels at attracting women into veterinary roles, but struggles to optimise their progression and impact in strategic leadership.
This under-representation isn’t due to a lack of ambition or capability among women. Qualitative research with female veterinary leaders shows that many are motivated by a desire to create positive change – for themselves, for their teams and for the profession – particularly around work-life balance, career progression and culture transformation[iv]. However, barriers persist, including gender bias in promotion perceptions, structural inflexibilities around work, limited access to mentorship and challenges linked to caregiving responsibilities and work-life integration that disproportionately affect women.
Compounding the gender imbalance in leadership representation is a notable leadership capability gap across the profession as a whole. The Veterinary Management Group’s (VMG) Leadership Standards Framework data shows that a striking 92% of newly promoted leaders within UK veterinary roles rated their leadership skills as “basic”, with similar findings in self-assessed leadership knowledge and strategic skill confidence among aspiring leaders[v]. Poor leadership capability has consequences for practice performance with increased staff turnover, burnout and disengagement, conflict and communication breakdowns within teams. This exacerbates the challenges that organisations face.
Why supporting women’s leadership enhances organisational performance
There are tangible benefits to enabling more women to access and thrive in leadership roles:
- Inclusive decision-making. It is well documented that more diverse leadership teams are better placed to deliver success in a complex changing world. With a range of perspectives, diverse teams can better respond to new emerging challenges and shape effective services to an evolving market and client base.
- Engagement and trust. When women see themselves represented in leadership teams, there is better chance of engagement from a largely female workforce. Staff are more likely to feel heard and understood leading to a greater sense of trust in leadership decisions and consequently higher engagement.
- Collaborative communication. Women in leadership roles are more likely to describe themselves as fostering an open collegiate culture where they work. Staff are more likely to feel empowered rather than having to conform to a rigid hierarchy. This has knock-on benefits for collaborative problem-solving across the team.
- Sustainable working. Veterinary professionals face some of the highest rates of job stress and burnout in healthcare-adjacent fields, with practices reporting recruitment and retention challenges linked to poor work-life balance and organisational stressors. Female leaders can be best placed to understand the range of pressures faced by their staff and help create environments where clinicians and support staff feel empowered and can work sustainably.
Practical Strategies to Support Women’s Leadership in Veterinary Organisations
To unlock the full potential of women leaders and the benefits they can bring, veterinary practices and organisations need intentional strategies designed to get women into leadership roles and then to ensure they can excel in those roles for maximum organisational impact.
1. Clear, Inclusive Leadership Pathways
Ambiguity around promotion criteria and leadership expectations disproportionately disadvantages those without access to informal sponsorship networks. Organisations should define transparent leadership competencies, career pathways, and criteria for advancement that all staff can see and work toward.
2. Mentorship and Sponsorship Programmes
Initiatives such as Veterinary Women in Leadership’s mentoring programme demonstrate how structured mentorship can support career development across different stages of practice and leadership. However, in addition to mentoring advice, women most benefit where someone is actively sponsoring access to opportunities.
3. Early leadership exposure and skills building
Leadership is often treated as a late-career option, particularly for women balancing clinical and personal responsibilities. However, women benefit when encouraged to shape leadership capability earlier in their career through leading projects, committees, or initiatives before formal promotion.
4. Flexible work practices
A lack of flexibility remains one of the most cited barriers to leadership progression for women in veterinary medicine. Increasingly we see leaders at all levels succeed with more flexible approaches such as part-time, or job-share models or where roles are designed to focus more on outcomes rather than hours worked.
5. Accountability and influence
Women leaders are more likely to report role ambiguity or informal resistance to their authority. They can feel pressure to simply adapt to established ways of doing things. They need to know they are not only leaders by name but have real authority to make decisions and shape the organisation for greater success.
6. Supportive leadership ecosystems
Leadership can be isolating, particularly for women in male-dominated leadership teams. Women perform better when they have the support of a wider female leadership network or where they can talk in confidence with a coach to help them navigate the challenges faced. Coaching can have a significant impact in boosting a female leader’s confidence with practical strategies that help her leverage her strengths to best advantage.
In conclusion, veterinary medicine faces a set of interconnected strategic challenges that threaten both individual wellbeing and the long-term sustainability of practices and organisations. Meeting these challenges requires strong, intentional leadership – leadership that builds supportive, collaborative cultures and equips organisations to adapt to emerging opportunities. Left to chance, the profession risks losing the leadership potential of another generation of highly capable women at a time when it is needed most. With purposeful investment and support, organisations can unlock this capability, strengthening leadership effectiveness and transforming performance across entire teams.
Laura Haycock, founder of Brew People, is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She provides systemic coaching for senior leaders in a range of professional and technical sectors.
A key focus for Laura’s work is in helping clients understand the diverse world in which we operate and supporting leaders in maximising the opportunities that come through being more inclusive. Laura has worked with the BVA on a range of member resources that build inclusion in the veterinary profession and recently spoke about menopause at a BVA Congress Panel at the 2025 London Vet Show. She has deep expertise in empowering women at work. Her number one best-selling book, M-POWER: A Menopause Action Plan for Organizations, offers a simple, evidence-based framework to help leaders drive meaningful change in the workplace.
[i] https://animalhealthnewsandviews.com/insights-from-the-vet-recruiters-2024-workplace-workforce-survey/
[ii] https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/news/rcvs-publishes-workforce-action-plan-setting-out-how-the-sector/
[iii] https://www.dvm360.com/view/study-finds-shortage-of-women-in-leadership-positions
[iv] https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1136/vr.105384
[v] https://www.veterinarywoman.co.uk/2025/05/uk-veterinary-leadership-report-reveals-that-92-of-new-leaders-find-their-skills-basic/
Get in touch with Laura at: lhaycock@brewpeople.co.uk
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