Women in pharmacy continue to drive industry forward

Women continue to provide an essential stabilizing force in the pharmacy field, driving the industry forward in the face of falling reimbursements, rising costs, burdensome inflation, and a shift in health plan cost-sharing which threatens to increase financial burdens on patients as well as independent pharmacists in communities across the United States.

Despite these – and other – unprecedented challenges, recent 2023 data points to pharmacy professionals not only staying afloat but achieving incremental growth in the number of independent pharmacies from the previous year. This growth continues a trend: over the last ten years, the number of independent retail pharmacies increased by 1,638 stores nationwide.

Who is staffing these (and other) pharmacies? According to a 2022 National Pharmacist Workforce Study from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, a greater percentage of pharmacists in all practice settings are female. In terms of numbers, out of the more than 313,000 pharmacists currently employed in the United States, 56.8 percent are women. They currently represent over half of all “pharmacist-in-charge" positions, up from 42 percent as recently as 2018, with a 2 percent gender pay gap compared to their male counterparts.

In comparison, males typically earn 17 percent more than females across all full and part-time workers in the United States.

Building and maintaining trust
Pharmacists remain among the most ethically revered professions according to Gallup, trailing only nurses and medical doctors. With 58 percent of Americans giving high marks to honesty and ethical standards of pharmacists, trust is a key component to leverage as the industry strives to weather severe fluctuations. Trust is an issue that hits home for Donna Merideth, RPh, pharmacist and owner of Alwood Pharmacy in Alpha, Illinois and Pharmacy of the Year winner in 2023.

“When I first purchased the store from my male mentor, I was afraid that I wouldn't be trusted as much as he was," she says, explaining that her gender is a strength that helps build strong relationships with customers.

“I believe that as a female pharmacist, my disposition leads me to be more empathetic and compassionate with my customers. I am patient and truly interested in their families and overall well-being."

Committed to building trust in her town of 600 by going beyond working behind the counter to help patients in a more personal way, Merideth provides services such as vaccinations, testing, compounding, medication packaging, and much more, making changes as needed in a way that suits her store and the community's needs.

Celebrating progress
October is home to both Women Pharmacist Day and American Pharmacists Month, celebrating the significant gains women have made pursuing careers in pharmacy and the profession's role in keeping communities healthy. Pharmacists as a whole have become more visible in recent years, serving essential functions during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they provided more than half of U.S. vaccinations, and administered antibody products and antiviral medications for an estimated one million additional patients.

“The pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of pharmacists and pharmacies, especially as accessible healthcare providers and destinations nationwide," observes Jenni Zilka, President of Good Neighbor Pharmacy, adding, “Pharmacists have always played a critical role in our healthcare system."

Although recently rising to the forefront of the profession, women have been making waves in pharmacy since the 18th century:

 - Elizabeth Greenleaf, recognized as America's first female pharmacist, who owned an apothecary in Boston in the early 1700s.

 - Mary Jacobi, the first woman to graduate from a school of pharmacy (1863).

 - Nellie Wakeman, the first woman to receive a PhD degree in a pharmacy discipline (1913).

 - Sister Mary Duffy, the first woman to serve as president of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists (1978).

 - Katherine “Kay" Keating, the first female pharmacist to attain the rank of Captain in the Navy Medical Corps (1950).

 - Mary Runge, the first woman and first African American to become president of APhA (1979).

Looking to the future
Despite negative impacts from COVID-19, the United States has higher survival after age 75 than peer countries thanks in part to behavioral changes such as increased cancer screenings and a focus on treating cholesterol and blood pressure. Combined with the fact that nearly 90 percent of the population lives within five miles of a pharmacy, there will be a need for professional pharmacists to serve communities throughout the country.
Data from companies across a range of industries shows that organizations with more diverse workforces perform better financially, positioning women to make an even more significant impact in the industry.

Women are filling the pipeline for new pharmacists, earning approximately 63 percent of the 14,300 PharmD degrees conferred at U.S. pharmacy schools in 2020, and submitting 66.6 percent of the applications to pharmacy colleges and schools in 2021-22.

Considering female pharmacists' majority status among active practitioners, pharmacy ownership represents a viable pathway to success. As of 2021, women started just about half of new U.S. businesses while women-owned businesses' average earnings increased more than men in 2022 (27 percent vs. 22 percent).

For Donna Merideth, she sees women pharmacy ownership as an area that will begin to grow, especially as more female pharmacists enter the profession and utilize their unique advantage over men. “I am more approachable to my female customers and have the advantage of experience in some of the female related issues," she says.

As far as offering words of encouragement to young pharmacists entering the field, Meredith doesn't pull any punches.

“You have the power to make changes in our field of pharmacy. Don't be afraid to take risks; it is from our failures that we learn and grow and ultimately achieve our goals," she says.