Women optometrists now outnumber men

More than half of registered optometrists in the UK are now female, the General Optical Council's yearly registration review has found.

Numbers of women choosing a career in optometry have increased every year since the introduction of statutory regulation in 1960, when they accounted for fewer than 5 per cent of registered practitioners, according to the statistics published as part of the Council's 2005/2006 annual report.

Results in the report showed that there were 4,813 male optometrists in the UK in 2001 compared to 4,170 female optometrists. But by 2005 there were 5,163 male and 5,256 female optometrists.