March 15, 2020

The veterinary profession in the U.K. celebrated 100 years of women being allowed on the veterinary register in December 2019.

“I am honored to be a female president celebrating this centenary,” said Dr. Daniella Dos Santos, president of the British Veterinary Association, in a press release. “Thanks to those women who went before me I have been able to join this amazing profession and do a job I love.”

The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 removed the legal barriers preventing women from entering the legal, accounting, and veterinary professions and civil service in the U.K.

“A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation, or for admission to any incorporated society,” according to the language of the legislation.

To celebrate the anniversary, BVA officers—Drs. Christianne Glossop, Christine Middlemiss, Sheila Voas, and Daniella Dos Santos—visited the Parliamentary Archives of the United Kingdom, which preserves and makes available to the public the records of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, to view the document.

“Seeing the act which made this possible in person was an emotional experience for me and I know that my fellow officers were also delighted to be allowed access to the document which has had such a tremendous impact on our profession,” Dr. Dos Santos said in the press release.

The 1919 law allowed for Dr. Aleen Cust to become the first female veterinary surgeon to be recognized by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1922. Dr. Cust was born in 1868 in Tipperary, Ireland. She enrolled in the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, Scotland, under the name A.I. Custance in 1894, although how she gained admission is unknown as all veterinary students in the U.K. at the time were male. The RCVS first denied her application to the registry in 1897. She graduated in 1900 and returned to Ireland to practice. Unable to call herself a veterinarian, she worked as an assistant to a veterinarian.

“Like me, Dr. Cust had only ever wanted to be one thing,” Dr. Dos Santos said in the press release. “One hundred years ago she was working as a vet but not legally recognized as one. Today we celebrate women in our profession, but we’ve still got a way to go on equality, diversity, and inclusion. We’re up for the challenge.”

Women make up about 60% of the veterinary profession today in the U.K., and 80% of veterinary students in the U.K. are women, according to the BVA.

The BVA also celebrated the centennial by highlighting the achievements of women veterinarians on social media and using the hashtag #StandingOnHerShoulders. The organization encouraged other veterinary professions to use the tag and highlight other female veterinarians who inspire them.

The United States’ first college-trained female veterinarian, Dr. Mignon Nicholson, graduated in 1903 from McKillip Veterinary College in Chicago, according to JAVMA archives. Dr. Elinor McGrath graduated from Chicago Veterinary College in 1910 and went on to become the AVMA’s first female member. She and Dr. Florence Kimball, who graduated from Cornell University the same year, became small animal practitioners.