More women join the optometric profession

The proportion of female optometrists (OO) in the profession is continuing to rise according to the NHS Information Centre.

In its General Ophthalmic Services Workforce Statistics for England and Wales for the year ending December 31, 2010, the centre revealed that the number of female OOs in England increased by 209 or 4.2 per cent on the previous year to 5,101. This figure represented 50.6 per cent of the 10,079 OOs in the country as at December 31, 2010. The proportion of female practitioners has been increasing steadily over time. In 2000 the numbers were 59.3 per cent male and 40.7 per cent female. In 2008, the number of female OOs in England exceeded the number of male OOs for the first time by nine.