More Female MBAs, But Still A Long Way To Go

B-SCHOOL CAREER PATHS ARE OFTEN IN MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES

It isn’t as simple as looking at what happens during the post-graduate career of a female academic; we need to look at the whole cycle.  In the very first instance, globally, fewer women than men apply to take the GMAT. Female pass rates are lower than men’s, although the gap is closing. The women who manage to jump those hurdles tend not to perform as well as their male counterparts in the business school environment. B-School career paths are often in male dominated industries. Not only does this put women off pursuing the B-School route, they tend not to have the experience in relevant industries, which gives the men a head start.

It seems that there is a lack of deans putting the topic to the front of their schools’ agendas. The problem has not been front of mind, and these schools seem very slow to change, which is not unlike the rest of the higher education sector.

Notably, it is the lower ranking schools within the top 100 that appear to be leading the way in terms of faculty gender balancing. Moving down the ranking table, the occurrence of schools with a faculty rate over 30% increases. Only one of the top 13 schools has a female faculty rate of over 30%, however 30 of the remaining 87 schools have female faculty over 30%. What is the reason behind top schools not employing female academics? This is conjecture, but there is a certain level of caché involved with business schools employing and showcasing the top academics, who, of course, are currently in the majority men.  Also with the gender pay gap, men at the top of their game are more expensive to employ than women. Is it the case that, with the top schools’ larger budgets, the lower-ranking schools simply cannot compete financially in meeting the salary expectations of the male elite in academia?

FEEDING THE PIPELINE IS NEEDED TO INCREASE WOMEN’S PRESENCE

Businesses are changing, mainly due to increased pressure through legislation, pressure from their customers, and general publicity on the topic. The feeding pools into these businesses are now experiencing a knock-on effect and beginning to integrate change in their approaches to recruitment, retention, and, slowly, the advancement of their female academics. While feeding the pipeline is necessary for increasing women’s presence in business schools, ultimately a two-pronged attack is the key to success. A recent article from the White House lays out best practices guidelines for business schools to help better prepare female students during their education to become business leaders (BEST PRACTICES FOR BUSINESS SCHOOLS TO LEAD IN EXPANDING OPPORTUNTIES FOR WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND TO ADAPT TO THE 21ST -CENTURY WORKFORCE, The White House, Aug 2014).

The overall push to encourage women to study at business schools seems to be having positive effects. We are seeing improvements. However, we must ensure that all students at these schools see women at the front of the classrooms, too. It is imperative that men and women see different leadership role models and ways of teaching and being in a business context. It is only when this happens that underlying biases be challenged.

We argue that these schools are fertile ground for teaching men and women about leadership and running gender balanced organisations; they are the best place to develop talent across both genders.

The founder of the The Case for Women, Lesley Symons, is passionate about getting more women into leadership positions. As a student at INSEAD in France, Lesley noticed a distinct lack of women on campus, both as professors and as students.  Even more noticeable was the lack of case studies with female protagonists, a circumstance that led to her thesis, ‘Where are the Women Leaders’.