“Not so much now, but early in my career, often I found that female pharmacists were considered secondary to say male pharmacists for ownership,” Barwick tells the AJP Podcast’s Carlene McMaugh

“When I first started my career, I was very much looking at getting into pharmacy ownership and my partner at the time, and now husband is a pharmacist,” Barwick says.

“I found he was being approached far more often for ownership roles than I was, and I was like, I’ve actually been working longer. I have more experience in pharmacy than he does.

“And so that was quite disappointing and I hope, and I feel like things have moved on since then.”

Barwick talks about how she would like to see more women in leadership roles in the profession – and the barriers and boosters that affect how women progress in pharmacy, whether in leadership, ownership or carving out their own roles.

She and McMaugh chat about the juggle, the mental load… and the different expectations of mothers compared to fathers in the workplace (as well as what kids pick up).

More highlights include:

05.21: What different perspectives do female pharmacists bring to the profession?

06.41: What advice do you have for younger women in pharmacy (and is “balance” the right word?)

08.08: Are workplaces doing enough to support women, particularly mothers, in pharmacy?

10.24: “Organisations and businesses need to be really aware of some of those restrictions on women’s time. We often have that mental load we’ve got to be aware of.”

11.42: “I think sometimes there is this idea of looking to male pharmacists before females, particularly for leadership or more senior positions… it should be merit-based.”

13.02: The importance of female mentors – like Manya Angley

14.37: “I think we should be actively looking to have more females in leadership roles, particularly in some of our representative organisations. I think it’s just essential and particularly women of colour and of different cultural backgrounds because I think it provides such a rich insight into what we can achieve in pharmacy.”

16.56: “Oh, no, no, I want to speak to the male pharmacist:” an opportunity to challenge biases

21:00: What steps could help the profession better achieve equality and equity?

22.37: What keeps you motivated as a female pharmacist in your profession?

24.50: “I hope eventually we never need something like International Women’s Day.”

27.35: Who inspires you?

29:01: “If there was one change that you think would really impact women in pharmacy, what would that one change be and what would you like to see?”

30:53: What children infer about careers from what they see around them

32.07: “My husband goes, ‘you’re a super feminist’. And I’m like, ‘yeah, damn. Straight’.”

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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