Although the influx of women into formerly entirely male-dominated professions has attracted much commentary from members of these professions, little investigation of the consequences of rapid, large-scale feminization has been undertaken for particular professions. The results of a pilot study in Canadian pharmacy suggest that fears of shortages due to women working part-time while they raise their children, are unfounded. However, our survey results suggest that women are differentially drawn into pharmacies run by corporations rather than independent businesses. This may allow them to reorient pharmacy away from its business base and towards its chosen new professional jurisdiction of counselling. On the other hand, the demise of independent pharmacy, that traditionally attracted males, may bring with it less control by pharmacists over what they do in everyday practice. The possibility that similar processes are operating in other feminizing professions with entrepreneurial components, such as dentistry and optometry, should be investigated.
This longitudinal study compared the attitudes of the Class of 1983 at the University of Toronto toward clinical pharmacy seven years after graduation with those they expressed at the point of graduation in 1983. Over three quarters of the original class responded by indicating agreement or disagreement with statements (on a 5-point scale) about clinical pharmacy in 1983 and 1989. While there was little difference between those who became hospital pharmacists versus those who became community pharmacists at the point of graduation, seven years later, the hospital pharmacists were significantly more favourable than their colleagues toward drug consulting aspects of clinical pharmacy. The community pharmacists were significantly more favourable than their colleagues toward patient counselling aspects of clinical pharmacy. It is concluded that the work setting has influenced these different preferences for how the ideal of clinical pharmacy is interpreted. We offer a possible explanation for the consistently positive, if divergent, orientations towards the ideal of clinical pharmacy.
