Gender and Age of Zoochatters

[okapikpr]

Are zoo animal keepers split evenly 50/50?

In the US, the majority of keepers are women. In my graduating college class there were only 4 guys out of 48 students.

 

[reptile1517]

Students

In the US, the majority of keepers are women. In my graduating college class there were only 4 guys out of 48 students.

Please ask the 44 ladies to contact me , thank you.....

 

[James27]

Strange, I got the impression zoo keeping sort of started out as a man's job. I doubt you would have seen many women doing it in the 50s/60s.

 

[Pygathrix]

The late John Aspinall did not employ women keepers for many years as he felt they would be a distraction for the male keepers!

 

[Pertinax]

Strange, I got the impression zoo keeping sort of started out as a man's job. I doubt you would have seen many women doing it in the 50s/60s.

You are 100% correct. In that era the only ladies employed in animal positions were probably those in a few places such as London Zoo's Children's zoo as 'grooms' for the ponies and to tend the other domestics. Plus Twycross Zoo employed mainly ladies from its earliest stages too.

I noticed the changeover everywhere else gathering pace in the 80/90's period. Now there is a major reversal.

 

[hemsley]

male, 16 =]

 

[jbnbsn99]

I'm Male and 27 (I think)

 

[KEEPER]

Male, 35; next week 36.

 

[Hix]

It looks like Snowleopard's original estimation of 80:20 is pretty close - at the time of posting this 14 out of 70 are female (which is exactly 20%).



Hix

 

[Ajkwba]

29 year old man, although I did get called birthday girl the other week

 

[naturefirst]

I'm male, 27, and a bit of a zoo geek, but you can't put that down on the poll.

 

[okapikpr]

...and a bit of a zoo geek, but you can't put that down on the poll

I believe that is a requirement to participate in the poll

 

[mhale]

I'm female, aged 36 and proud of it

 

[LOU]

Male, aged 13.

 

[Cat-Man]

I'm female, aged 36 and proud of it

WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT

i thort you were a guy!

 

[zooman]

I think its a shame people are voting in the poll. Yet they are not introduceing themselves.

79 post
55 replies

 

[camel leopard]

I' am 20 and male god i feel so old lol

 

[Quartz92]

16 now 17 soon, male!

 

[Elly]

I' am 20 and male god

Let us ladies be the judge of that!

I'm female and 46 years old (no, never too old to check out good looking men - though it's sometimes better if they keep their mouth shut)

 

[tetrapod]

You are 100% correct. In that era the only ladies employed in animal positions were probably those in a few places such as London Zoo's Children's zoo as 'grooms' for the ponies and to tend the other domestics. Plus Twycross Zoo employed mainly ladies from its earliest stages too.

I noticed the changeover everywhere else gathering pace in the 80/90's period. Now there is a major reversal.

There has been a definite trend in a changing sex ratio of keepers particularly noticable during the 90s in most Western zoos. When I started during the early 90s there were about 4 female keepers out of 40. When I left that particular zoo there were about half female. Fast forward to the last place I worked, only myself and one other were male out of about 8. Almost all students in Animal care courses (a traditional route for potential keepers in this country) tend to be female.

Keepers are poorly paid - not exactly news to anybody. The job entails often heavy physical work, traditionally a male role. For whatever reason either the interest in zoo work from men has decreased or more likely women are deciding that zoowork is an option. I obviously don't have a problem with this, but it does come with inherent problems ie. women cannot physically lift the same weights as men.

Note these changes have not taken place in Asian or African collections.