Odd hours， physical labor， blood， dirt， bites and kicks. Fro generations， women were told veterinary medicine was too tough for them.
But now， that longtime bastion of machismo is overwhelmingly female. In the past four decades， the number of women enrolled in colleges of veterinary medicine has skyrocketed from 140 to 8，00. women's increasing confidence in math and science is giving them a new edge in the fiercely competitive admissions process. In the mid-1970s， three-quarters of all students were male. The numbers are now reversed.
Education equity laws and a changing perception of women in the workforce are among the significant developments that helped set the stage fro veterinary medicine's transformation. Another key change： better drugs.
"We call the tranquilizer Dormosedan 'the great equalizer，'" joked equine vet Kristin Dietrich.
Physical danger was a greater threat in America's more rural past. Back then， most work dealt with horses and cows-creatures whose medical emergencies often occur in remote pastures， sometimes in the cold， the dark and the rain.
As farms give way to subdivisions， vets are increasingly treating a different kind of patient： the family pet. These small-animal clinics allow more time to raise a family， with flexible hours， part-time work and job sharing.
Modern vet practices also rely more on building strong relationships with people， something many women said they enjoy. There are on insurance companies telling them what to do.
"What we do is motivational speaking. You can't convince a dog or cat to take their medicine-you have to influence the owner，" said Carol Cardona， professor at the University of California-Davis. "I think that's something that many women excel at."
Word
Veterinary medicine （adj） owned and legally controlled by a particular company
Bastion （n） something that maintains or defends， especially a belief or a way of life that is disappearing or threatened.
Machismo （n） male behavior， which is characterized by being strong and forceful and having very traditional ideas about how men and women should behave
Set the stage （idiom） to make it possible or likely for something to happen
Tranquilizer （n） a drug used to make a person or animal calmer
Equalizer （n） something that makes two different things evenly matched
Subdivisions （n） an area of land containing many homes built about the same time， especially near a town or small city
Motivational （adj） giving you encouragement to do something
But now， that longtime bastion of machismo is overwhelmingly female. In the past four decades， the number of women enrolled in colleges of veterinary medicine has skyrocketed from 140 to 8，00. women's increasing confidence in math and science is giving them a new edge in the fiercely competitive admissions process. In the mid-1970s， three-quarters of all students were male. The numbers are now reversed.
Education equity laws and a changing perception of women in the workforce are among the significant developments that helped set the stage fro veterinary medicine's transformation. Another key change： better drugs.
"We call the tranquilizer Dormosedan 'the great equalizer，'" joked equine vet Kristin Dietrich.
Physical danger was a greater threat in America's more rural past. Back then， most work dealt with horses and cows-creatures whose medical emergencies often occur in remote pastures， sometimes in the cold， the dark and the rain.
As farms give way to subdivisions， vets are increasingly treating a different kind of patient： the family pet. These small-animal clinics allow more time to raise a family， with flexible hours， part-time work and job sharing.
Modern vet practices also rely more on building strong relationships with people， something many women said they enjoy. There are on insurance companies telling them what to do.
"What we do is motivational speaking. You can't convince a dog or cat to take their medicine-you have to influence the owner，" said Carol Cardona， professor at the University of California-Davis. "I think that's something that many women excel at."
Word
Veterinary medicine （adj） owned and legally controlled by a particular company
Bastion （n） something that maintains or defends， especially a belief or a way of life that is disappearing or threatened.
Machismo （n） male behavior， which is characterized by being strong and forceful and having very traditional ideas about how men and women should behave
Set the stage （idiom） to make it possible or likely for something to happen
Tranquilizer （n） a drug used to make a person or animal calmer
Equalizer （n） something that makes two different things evenly matched
Subdivisions （n） an area of land containing many homes built about the same time， especially near a town or small city
Motivational （adj） giving you encouragement to do something