Work satisfaction in a rapidly feminized profession: assessing the intersection of gender, parenting and support resources among veterinary doctors

Abstract

Women typically hold jobs in which they experience less pay and less favorable working conditions than men in comparable positions. Despite these differences, women report similar or even higher levels of work satisfaction. Most studies explaining work satisfaction and gender focus on workplace rewards as potential explanatory variables. Little is known about the relevance of support resources from the family domain in relation to women’s and men’s work satisfaction. Finally, the relevance of support resources has not been studied in high-status professions where women have quickly become more highly represented numerically. Using quantitative survey data from a sample of married veterinary doctors (N = 311), we explore the influence of work and family-based support resources. Specifically, we examine the relationship between work satisfaction and three sources of support: coworkers, family, and spouses. We also explore whether parental status has moderating effects for women and men with these resources in association with work satisfaction. We find that mothers are more satisfied than fathers. Parenthood and supportive family engagement are strong predictors of women’s work satisfaction. Coworker support is a salient predictor of work satisfaction for all, especially for men who are fathers. Implications for men and women working in high-status professions are discussed.

Notes

1 Since 2001, Canada’s Employment Insurance Act has allowed parents 35 weeks of paid parental leave. One noticeable result of this act has been an increase in the numbers of fathers who stay at home in the period after the birth of their child. As indicated by Ball (2010), only about 1 in 33 men took paid leave in 2000, which was the year before Canada introduced this leave allowance for men. By 2006, the number increased to about one in five men taking paid parental leave.

2 Additional analyses demonstrate that approximately one-third of the married male veterinarians in this sample have partners who are not employed, whereas less than 7% of the married women’s partners are unemployed. In addition, compared with the women in the sample, men’s employed partners earn less (slightly more than $75,000 annually compared with more than $100,000 for women’s employed partners) and work fewer hours than the husbands of veterinarian women (about 40 hours compared with more than 46 hours for women’s husbands).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan is a professor of sociology and chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He received his PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 2002. Tom’s interest in sociology is heavily informed by his previous work with disadvantaged children and families. His work focuses on examining gender inequalities at work, in organizations, and in families. Tom’s research also focuses on student adjustment to the university life stage. In this area, Tom explores helicopter parenting as well as the university experience of students experiencing disabilities.

Jean E. Wallace

Jean Wallace is a professor of sociology in Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Jean has extensively studied the professional work attitudes and experiences of lawyers and physicians, with a recent shift to veterinarians and animal health technologists. Her research interests include mental health and wellness; work-life balance and the work-family interface; job stress and coping strategies; mentoring and professional relationships; coworker and spousal support; and how statuses such as gender, generation, and parenthood are relevant. She uses mixed methods in her research and has relied on a combination of direct observations, interviews, and surveys.