MBAs: Gender Inequality Common In The Workplace

Source: www.weawomenatwork.org.uk

When we speak of “gender inequality,” what do we mean? Sangster agrees that the phrase can have different meanings to everyone. According to Forte’s new report, the top three types of gender inequality that female MBAs “personally experienced” in order are: unequal opportunities for promotions or career advancement, hostile work environment, and unequal career opportunities — global assignments, special projects, and the like. The top three types of gender inequality that male MBAs have personally experienced, meanwhile, are gender preference in recruiting and hiring practices, hostile work environment, and lack of or inadequate parental leave policies.

The top three types of gender inequality female and male MBA respondents have “heard of” are: hostile work environment, unequal access to training or educational opportunities, unequal opportunities for promotions or career advancement.

“Many of the responses we got for this survey I would classify as alarming but not surprising,” Sangster says. “From a corporate perspective, they need to really pay attention to the inequities that are out there in the workforces, especially in this really important leadership pipeline that we know MBAs are for these companies, to make sure that they’re giving women the opportunities that they need to advance in their careers — and not to marginalize those opportunities even after they’ve invested in this MBA path to leadership.”

Source: Forte Foundation

THE MBA AS EQUALIZER?

The survey found that male and female MBAs addressed gender inequality differently within their organizations. Women were more likely to actively lead or participate in a women’s affinity group (22%) or speak up and advocate for what they believe in (19%); men were more likely to address gender inequality in their organizations “by deliberately focusing on recruiting, hiring, and promoting more women” (30%), and “working to change organizational structure or policies” (20%) that impact gender inequality.

A majority of recent MBA graduates (62% of MBA graduating classes in 2016-2017) believe that business school helps prepare them to address gender inequality in the workplace versus less than half of earlier business school graduates (40% of graduates from 2005-2015). MBA respondents say business school helps them to address gender inequality in the workplace through a variety of ways such as building awareness and confidence to address issues through case studies, courses, frameworks and toolkits, affinity groups and workshops, open discussion, and more. 

Interestingly, men and women report differences in how MBA programs prepared them. Men were more likely to cite “developing awareness” (men 18%, women 12%), “individual courses” (19%, 7%) and case studies (14%, 4%) as having the most impact; women were more likely to say they “gained confidence” to address gender inequality in the workplace (women 34%, men 1%) and that “affinity groups and workshops” helped prepare them (women 13%, men 3%).

“I really always thought that the MBA kind of leveled the playing field, and I think it still does in some respects because I think the opportunities that are out there are different post-MBA,” Sangster says. “But it doesn’t necessarily level the playing field in terms of the salary, and we know there are a host of other issues. Ultimately, in their post-MBA careers, women are still they’re faced with a lack of flexibility. Many of them are entering into a time in their career when they are thinking about work/life balance, and so if a company has not structured opportunities so that it’s flexible and it allows them to do both of those things, and you’re in a two-MBA household perhaps and you’re both out pursuing your careers and then you’re confronted with how to balance work and life, somebody usually steps back and I think often that is the female in the relationship.”

Source: Forte Foundation

ADDRESSING WORKPLACE GENDER INEQUALITY

According to the Forte survey, about 4 in 10 (38%) MBA graduates believe their organizations are working to address gender inequality in the workplace — close to half are men (47%) and just one third are women (33%). How are organizations tackling gender inequality? MBAs surveyed believe these are the actions their employer is taking, ranked from highest to lowest:

  • Formed a group or task force to address the issues
  • Establishing safe reporting mechanisms
  • Made changes to employment policies
  • Instituted new training on gender inequality
  • Incorporated measures around gender equality into performance expectations

At a personal level, one-third of MBA respondents (30%) say that they individually have taken action to address gender inequality at their organization — a relatively equal percentage of men (31%) and women (30%). Actions include:

  • Speak up/advocate/openly share information
  • Work to change organizational structure or policies
  • Deliberately focus on gender equality during recruitment, hiring, and promotion decisions
  • Actively lead or participate in a women’s affinity group
  • Coach or mentor women and men on gender inequality
  • Work with HR on gender inequality issues
  • Speak to a supervisor about issues of inequality
  • Speak to senior leadership about issues of inequality
  • File official complaints against the company or individual

DON’T MISS: FOR WOMEN, DOUBTS ABOUT THE MBA AS ECONOMIC MOBILITY ENGINE or GENDER EQUITY GROUP EYES ‘MEN AS ALLIES’

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