Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Ratified: 16/07/2026  

Note: The following policies should be considered as a group (see other related policies); together they provide a set of principles which underpin the AVA’s wellness strategy:  

Definitions  

Diversity: The mix of people in a group, encompassing all the differences between individuals based on their social identities (DCA, 2025). 

Equity: Providing different individuals with tailored support and resources to achieve the same access, opportunity and outcomes (Diversity Australia, 2025). 

Inclusion: The active practice of creating environments where all people feel respected, valued, connected and empowered to fully participate as themselves, and to their full potential (Diversity Australia, 2025). 

Additional terminology in Glossary 

Purpose  

  • To guide advocacy within, and beyond, the veterinary profession; 
  • To assist in educating the profession and the communities we serve; 
  • To inform action through standards, professional behaviours and organisational leadership. 

This Policy is supported by separate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guidelines that provide practical, categorised implementation advice for the profession on general inclusion needs of marginalised groups and of specific minority identities. 

Policy 

  1. Fairness, respect and integrity are expected of all individuals in veterinary contexts. Consideration must be shown for the welfare, beliefs, abilities, customs, cultural heritage and other protected attributes of animal owners, veterinary team members and professional peers.
  2. The AVA recognises that diversity, equity, and inclusion in veterinary workplaces, education, and leadership enhances: 
    a) veterinary physical and mental wellbeing, retention and professional practice,
    b) veterinary organisational sustainability, and
    c) access to animal healthcare for our community.  
  3. To create veterinary environments where dignity, safety, and wellbeing are standard, the AVA supports moving beyond legal compliance to equity-based inclusion. 
  4. Equitable access, opportunity and psychological safety must be embedded throughout the veterinary profession supporting students, employees, employers and leaders as core elements of professional and ethical practice.  

Background    

The diversity within the veterinary profession and the people it serves includes race, ethnicity, physical, sensory or cognitive disability and attributes, neurodivergence, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, family status, religious or cultural beliefs, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, age, geographic location and other real or perceived differences.  

Globally, veterinary science is recognised as one of the least diverse professions (Stanton, 2025; BLS, 2024; Greenhill et al, 2007; RCVS, 2019; VSC, 2024; King et al, 2025).  Access to national demographic data is limited due to Australia’s federated registration model, however the AVA 2023/24 Workforce Survey (AVA, 2024) offers a snapshot of the registered veterinary population (14.3% response rate) showing that: 

  • Diversity in the Australian veterinary profession is not aligned with the general Australian population (ABS 2021) including in the categories of gender, First Nations representation (0.8% Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander compared to 3.2%) and non-English languages spoken.  
  • 38% of Australian veterinarians identified as having disability, chronic illness or neurodivergence, while 41% of survey respondents had carer responsibilities, indicating a clear need for inclusive design and behaviours to support workforce retention and wellbeing.  

Beyond and distinct from workforce participation, progression inequities exist for marginalised groups. These include a gender pay gap (AVA 2024) and inequities in veterinary business ownership, and in academic leadership, scientific publication rates and recognition within the veterinary sector (Liu et al, 2021). Even if strong participation exists, inequitable progression perpetuates biases through limited distribution of authority, influence, impact, recognition and rewards.  

Limited data is available in Australia addressing discrimination, further research in this area is needed to draw reliable conclusions. Surveys from international regions have been conducted which may offer some insights. In a 2021 UK survey conducted by the British Veterinary Association, one in six respondents said they had experienced discrimination (BVA, 2021). Low formal reporting rates from fear of consequences mean the true prevalence may be higher (RCVS & BVCIS, 2023).  Discrimination appears to disproportionately affect young vets, women, disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+ and racial minorities (Witte et al, 2020; Hennessey et al, 2025).  Most of this discrimination came from within the profession itself (BVA 2019; RCVS, 2024). Veterinary students also experienced high, often unreported discrimination on extra-mural placements, predominately from senior colleagues (Summers et al, 2023)  

Impediments to diversity, equity and inclusion  

Barriers are primarily systemic, including: 

  • Cultural norms and stigma (Bridge Partners, 2024). 
  • Awareness, competency and resource gaps in understanding bias and impacts, equity law, trauma-informed management and inclusive leadership. Limited resource investment in DEI staffing, training, policy and infrastructure also restricts implementation and sustainability of initiatives. 
  • Workforce entry and career progression inequities including assessment systems, location, mentoring, education costs, and finance access (Burkhard et al, 2022; Quicksall, 2024) 
  • Organisational DEI rationale: While correlation exists between organisations with more diverse workforces and stronger financial performance (Hunt et al, 2018; MFAA, 2025; Ullah et al, 2025), a financial (rather than ethical) rationale for inclusion paradoxically undermines marginalised individual’s sense of belonging and hinders organisations’ diversity goals (Georgeac & Rattan, 2022; McCloskey, 2019).  

Fragmented or ad hoc approaches to DEI, which can reduce effectiveness and reinforce the perception of inclusion as peripheral rather than integral to professional practice 

Consequences of inequity and low inclusion  

Diversity, equity and inclusion is linked to veterinary mental health and wellbeing. Suicide risk among veterinary professionals has been widely documented. Research from other healthcare professions suggests that neurodivergent clinicians (Pickles et al., 2024) may face elevated mental health risks in unsupportive workplace environments, as may LGBTQIA+ vets and team members (Witte et al, 2020).  

Gender, ethnicity, culture, disability, neurodivergence, sexuality, caring responsibilities, and geography each shape people’s workplace experiences. The intersection of these factors compounds the impacts of inequitable systems and biased behaviours (Lawler et al, 2024; Bixby, 2024; Brown & Moloney 2018) creating unique personal barriers to opportunities, wellbeing, safety, visibility and connection. 

Diversity without inclusive practice can increase conflict within teams and impair trust in an organisation. 

Complaints, including to veterinary regulators, can stem from clients feeling subjected to bias or assumption or unable to participate adequately in decision-making, 

Obligations, expectations and ethics 

Australian employment and human rights laws protect against direct and indirect discrimination to avoid exclusion based on personal protected attributes.  Positive duties on employers also exist to develop inclusive practices that provide physically and psychologically safe workplaces (SWA 2022; Australian Human Rights Commission, 2025). Veterinary regulatory and peak body standards include expectations of healthy and supportive workplaces for veterinary people (Vetboard Victoria 2021), and care and respect for all team members, peers and animal owners.  

Legislation and regulation provide minimum obligations; compliance may be seen as doing things right. Professional ethics go beyond this to an expectation of doing the right things including enabling self-determination (autonomy) and fair, equitable and appropriate treatment (justice) (Varkey, 2021).  In veterinary contexts, this means creating welcoming, equitable and empowering environments for the pursuit of animal health and wellbeing.  

What improves Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? 

Progress requires: 

  • Strategic integration of DEI principles into governance, policies, accreditation, standards, and workplace systems (Heidrick & Struggles 2024; Forbes 2025; Daher, 2024). 
  • Consistency and visibility across professional associations, educational institutions, employers, and community organisations (Zhao et al, 2025; Forbes 2025). 
  • Consistent and reliable data, targets and reporting at professional and workplace levels (Harvard Business Review 2021; Heidrick & Struggles 2024; Australian Government 2016). 
  • Education and capability building through diversity, equity and inclusion training within education and continuing professional development (CPD) (Wang et al, 2024). 
  • Inclusive human resource management including equitable recruitment, onboarding, development, progression and evaluation processes (Rusilowati et al, 2025) 
  • Dedicated resourcing and commitment by leadership (WK Kellogg Foundation 2023; Harvard Business Review 2021). 
  • Co-design involving people with lived experience 
  • Inclusive leadership (King et al 2024; Schuler R 2025). 

 

Benefits of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Veterinary Profession 

For veterinary organisations and the profession 

  • Inclusive workplaces improve recruitment, retention, trust, engagement and performance (Downey et al, 2015; Sharma et al, 2025; Linkov et al, 2022). 
  • Cultures of psychological safety enable disclosure and adjustments without stigma, improving wellbeing and performance. 
  • Diverse teams strengthen decision-making, resilience, and adaptability by reducing blind spots and improving problem solving in clinical reasoning, business management, and public health (Linkov et al, 2022; Gomez & Bernet, 2019) 
  • A broad management philosophy of responsibility to workers and communities offers reputational and practical benefits. (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). 

For clients, communities and their animals  

  • Representative workforces and inclusive behaviours improve communication with clients, cultural safety, and trust (Jafarian 2024; Kiefer et al, 2013).  In human healthcare, this leads to timely care-seeking, informed care decisions, and improved adherence to treatment plans (Gomez & Bernet, 2019), In comparable veterinary settings, these behaviours support animal and human health and wellbeing outcomes (One Health and One Welfare).  

 

Recommendations 

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a shared responsibility. For veterinary teams and workplaces to thrive, the benefits of diversity and inclusion must be recognised and communicated at individual, organisational, and sector levels. Organisations and individuals must identify systemic barriers to equity and actively work to dismantle them.   

The following general principles should be applied at all levels and throughout the veterinary sector to advance a culture which is understanding, welcoming and genuinely inclusive: 

a) Cultural humility: Reflect and inquire on an ongoing basis to understand our own identity, biases and behaviours, and actively seek to understand, respect and include others’ perspectives.  

b) Equity: Recognise historic and ongoing disadvantage, and take proactive steps to ensure fair access, assessment, outcomes, and support. 

c) Representation: Value the presence and leadership of diverse people, particularly in decision-making. 

d) Safety: Prioritise environments that are physically, culturally, and psychologically safe for all. 

e) Access: Design workplaces, policies, processes, education, and services that accommodate all bodies, minds, and needs. 

f) Empowerment: Ensure that people from historically marginalised communities lead decision making processes in matters relating to their communities. 

g) Accountability: Take ownership of the impact of our actions and systems, even when unintentional, and commit to repair and change. 

 

1. Sector Leadership  

Peak bodies, regulators, accreditors and education institutions should provide visible, consistent and co-ordinated sector leadership to define, enable and monitor inclusive practices for the veterinary profession. These organisations:  

Must  

1.1 Provide guidance for veterinary professionals that upholds, and preferably exceeds, their legal obligations to create workplaces which enable psychological and physical safety, dignity, equitable opportunities and well-being for every individual 

Should  

  • 1.2 Collect, analyse and publish de-identified workforce and education diversity and inclusion data, including representation across leadership roles, with privacy safeguards. Data should be collected and reviewed in ways that reveal effects of intersectional diversity, such as gender and disability together. 
  • 1.3 Encourage and facilitate competency-building in inclusive leadership, accessibility and cultural safety through regulatory expectations, tertiary and continuing education, and resources shared under open licence. 
  • 1.4 Encourage and/or enable measurement of equity and inclusion perceptions within veterinary workplaces, for example through surveys or regulatory complaints thematic analysis. 
  • 1.5 Set and uphold minimum equity and psychological-safety standards in accreditation and education, and as core elements of professional practice within professional standards and codes of conduct, for workforce sustainability, wellbeing, and professional excellence 
  • 1.6 Co-design profession-level policies, professional guidance and inclusion strategies with people and communities with lived experience of exclusion, and test that these work for people with intersectional diversity. 

The AVA has a leadership role in advancing this work and will implement this policy through a Board-endorsed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy, including defined actions, accountability and reporting mechanisms. 

2. Veterinary workplaces

All veterinary workplaces including clinical practices, industry suppliers, government, research and educational institutions, regulators, peak bodies and service providers are responsible for implementing an inclusive workplace culture. While all team members play a role, workplace leaders are crucially influential in establishing management and behavioural norms so that people feel safe, connected, respected, valued, able to express themselves and contribute meaningfully. Specifically, organisations and leaders:  

Must 

  • 2.1 Establish and resource psychologically safe, accessible work systems (adjustments, flexible work/learning, accessible meetings and events). 
  • 2.2 Implement fair recruitment, selection, feedback, progression and leadership pathways with bias-aware processes and transparent criteria. 
  • 2.3 Maintain confidential, trauma-informed reporting and resolution pathways for discrimination, bullying and harassment, with periodic audit and feedback to staff. 

Should 

  • 2.4 Monitor organisational information (workforce, client and complaints data) to identify needs and gaps, set goals and publish progress on representation, retention and inclusion outcomes. 
  • 2.5 Provide ongoing education in inclusive practice, cultural humility, and trauma-informed management 
  • 2.6 Review policies, processes, resources and communications regularly to support equitable workforce and client (or member, student, registrant etc) inclusion. 
  • 2.7 Partner with community organisations to improve client access and cultural safety.  
  • 2.8 Embed responsive and inclusive leadership, including through consultative and collaborative decision making.  
  • 2.9 Involve, and recognise the value of, people with lived experience in designing DEI initiatives.  
  • 2.10 Support commercial and non-profit partners (e.g. suppliers) who demonstrate corporate social responsibility including DEI principles 

 

3. Individuals 

Veterinary team members, students, animal owners and other members of the public:  

Must 

  • 3.1 Reject discrimination and harassment and facilitate safe, respectful professional teamwork and veterinary environments.  
  • 3.2 Follow workplace policies on adjustments, reporting and bystander action.  

Should 

  • 3.4 Practise cultural humility and seek and respond to feedback.  
  • 3.5 Engage in tertiary and continuing professional education on inclusive practice. 
  • 3.6 Model inclusive behaviours e.g. accurate names/pronouns, accessible communication and other access needs, self-awareness, appreciative inquiry, norms that enable contribution, and build inclusive networks. 

 

Other relevant policies and position statements 

 

Resources 

AVA Resources 

  1. AVA Great Veterinary Workplaces Guidelines, including Pillars 3: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; 2: Health and Wellbeing; 7: Proactive People Processes, and 8: Collegiality and Connection
  2. AVA Mentoring program 
  3. AVA Code of Conduct (Under Review) 
  4. AVA Thrive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework https://www.ava.com.au/Thrive/THRIVE-Mental-Health-and-Suicide-Prevention-Framework/ including 
    – Cultivating Safe Teams program
    – AVA Mental Health First Aid - https://www.ava.com.au/member-services/vethealth/mental-health-first-aid/ 
  5. Chartered Veterinary Practitioner 
  6. Education and Events – conferences including Thrive symposium/stream 

Non-AVA Resources 

      7. Australian Discrimination Laws 

  • Age Discrimination Act 2004 
  • Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 
  • Disability Discrimination Act 1992 

      8. AVMA policy on diversity and inclusion www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/AVMA-Policy-on-Diversity-and-Inclusion.aspx 

      9. British Veterinary Association equality and diversity policy www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/bva-equality-diversity-policy.pdf 

      10. Pride in Inclusion www.prideinclusionprograms.com.au 

      11. Workplace Gender Equality Agency https://www.wgea.gov.au/about/workplace-gender-equality 

      12. Upholding Respect@ Work legislation https://www.diversityaustralia.com.au/upholding-respect-at-work-mandatory-australian-legislation-and-annual-staff-training/ 

      13. Respect@Work legislation positive duty obligations https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/positive-duty-sex-discrimination-act 

      14. Gender Impact Assessments https://www.genderequalitycommission.vic.gov.au/gender-impact-assessment-toolkit-and-templates in particular, how to have meaningful consultation and desktop research to remove burden on those with lived experience https://www.genderequalitycommission.vic.gov.au/gender-impact-assessment-toolkit-and-templates/step-2-understand-policy-context 

15. https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2014-03-04_PP_targetsquotas.pdf 

16. https://championsofchangecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/40.40.20-For-gender-balance-2024.pdf 

17. https://championsofchangecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Avoiding-the-merit-trap.pdf 

 

Glossary 

Access and Accessibility: The equitable opportunity for all people to enter, participate in, and benefit from veterinary education, workplaces, and services, supported by the design and continuous improvement of environments, systems, and practices that remove barriers and enable full participation. 

Accountability: The responsibility of individuals and organisations to act on equity and inclusion commitments, to measure and report progress transparently, and to ensure follow-through and consequences where standards are not met. 

Cultural humility: The lifelong practice of continual self-reflection and learning, recognising personal bias, respecting the lived experiences of others, and acknowledging that understanding culture is never complete. 

Empowerment: Creating the conditions for all individuals, especially those historically marginalised, to exercise agency, access opportunities, and contribute fully to the profession. 

Equality:  Providing everyone the same treatment or resources, regardless of their different starting points.  

Equity: Providing different individuals with different resources and support to achieve the same access, opportunity and outcomes.  

Inclusion: The active practice of creating environments where all people feel respected, valued, connected and empowered to fully participate as themselves. 

Intersectionality: The ways in which multiple aspects of identity overlap and compound one another to shape experience, power, and access. 

Psychological safety: An inclusive organisational climate in which all individuals can express ideas, raise concerns, and acknowledge mistakes without fear of dismissal, exclusion, or other negative consequences. 

Psychosocial hazard: Any factor in the design or management of work, the work environment, or workplace interactions that may cause psychological harm, whether through stress, fatigue, bullying, harassment, or other risks. 

Representation: The meaningful inclusion of diverse people and perspectives in education, workplaces, leadership, and decision-making, so the profession reflects the communities it serves. 

Scope of diversity: The diversity of members’ and clients’ varied backgrounds include and are not limited to race, ethnicity, physical and intellectual abilities and traits, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, parental, marital or pregnancy status, religious or cultural beliefs, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, age, and other real or perceived differences. 

Social identity: The personal qualities that one claims and displays to others so consistently that they are considered to be part of one’s essential, stable self. 

Tolerance: Passive respect for difference that allows diversity to exist but does not actively engage with or embrace it. 

 

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