It is exactly 20 years since Margaret Seward took the lead in championing the contribution of women dentists to the dental workforce through the publication, commissioned by the Department of Health, Better opportunities for Women Dentists (2001). It considered the issues in the contexts of General Practice, Community and Hospital Dental Services and Academic Dentistry.

Dame Margaret states in the Foreword that her aim was for her recommendations to be acted upon promptly. It is interesting, 20 years on and as a tribute to the significant role that Dame Margaret played within the profession generally but for women dentists in particular, to reflect on her recommendations, namely:

  • The availability of flexible and part-time working patterns

  • Retraining and returning after a career break and childcare initiatives

  • Support towards practice ownership

  • Necessary changes in relation to workforce planning

  • Encouragement for women to take on leadership roles.

There has been a significant demographic shift within the dental workforce towards women and the enhancement of their opportunities, for example, maternity rights have improved enormously since this report was commissioned.

Nevertheless, I found it interesting that, some 20 years later in 2021, the BDA found it 'newsworthy' to state that 3 contemporary women presidents are/or will be women. Moreover, within the same publication, it reported that there had been difficulties during Covid in fitting masks on women practitioners. as the masks had been designed for male features.1

The profession has moved a long way since 2001: no longer would a woman be asked if she was on the 'pill' as happened to me all those years ago when I applied for a bank loan to set up my practice, but there is still a way to go.