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Pioneer Female Veterinarians
Ivan Katić
Abstract
In this paper I have collected information about the first women veterinarians in approximately 40 countries. However, I am aware of the fact that some information may not be complete or correct, therefore, I shall be very glad to receive any missing information or rectification. Nowadays, when in some countries female veterinary students make about 75-80% or even more of veterinary medicine students in total, it is good to learn that a century ago it was not easy for women to study veterinary medicine, a subject taught since Cheiron’s time only to male students. The first countries where we found female veterinarians are Switzerland, France, Great Britain and Germany. In all these countries veterinary schools have an old and rich tradition. A stimulating factor for women to study veterinary sciences was also the First World War because of good possibilities for employment. After WWI it was easier to study veterinary medicine for women, especially in the newly founded countries: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Baltic countries. A lot of German university professors worked in the 1920s and 1930s in Bulgaria and Turkey, which probably also contributed to the situation: women were beginning to be accepted at studies of veterinary medicine. The development and implementation of new fields such as hygiene, laboratory, pets, fish disease etc. also resulted in the opening of new working areas for women veterinarians.
Keywords
veterinary studies; female veterinarians; education; history
Hrčak ID:
84036
URI
Publication date:
21.5.2012.
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