Closing the Gender Gap

This year’s graduating class at Boston University School of Management for example comprises 45 per cent women; for the last five years classes at New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business were made up of around 40 per cent female students. Amongst Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania's first year class four out of ten students are women. Most top European schools are also attracting more females. At INSEAD, for instance, applications from women have more than doubled over the past five years. The percentage of women in this year’s graduating class is 34 per cent, up from 23 per cent in 2000.

This is no accident, reports the “Financial Times”.  In recent years leading business schools have made efforts to debunk the myths about male-dominated MBA programmes. Dedicated admissions staff tried hard to attract women applicants by recruiting students at the undergraduate level and hosting conferences for prospective applicants headlined by female role models.

The Forté Foundation, a consortium of corporations and schools that promotes women in business, finds that when women start thinking about life after graduation, business school isn’t in the mix. Part of the reason for this, say admissions officers, is that the standard MBA track typically requires four to five years of professional experience, which poses a tough timetable for a young woman planning a family. Other professional degrees such as law or medicine do not mandate actual work experience and so many women enrol after university. Women made up 47 per cent of America's law school students in last year’s graduating class and according to the Association of American Medical Colleges they account for half of the students at medical school.

To remedy this, Wharton has begun recruiting at the university level. Promising candidates are assigned student mentors who offer advice and application tips. Harvard Business School is also endeavouring to catch young students. In 2007 it launched a deferred MBA admissions programme for undergraduates, which guarantees a future place, contingent upon graduation and the completion of two years of approved work experience. The programme, known as 2+2, was not specifically designed to attract more female candidates, but it has done so. About half the 116 students on the programme this year were women. Currently women represent about 38 per cent of the MBA class of 2010.

Schools are trying to dispel the myth that an MBA is only useful for jobs on Wall Street or consulting careers, by promoting its flexibility. Admissions staff highlights the fact that an MBA is a valuable tool in various industries and also in the non-profit and social entrepreneurship sector.

NYU Stern, among others, sponsors networking events to demonstrate that it offers a “supportive community”. Obviously it’s important for women to see what the environment is like, especially because of the widespread perception that MBA programmes are male-centric.

The Stern Women in Business Club hosts an annual conference with a female chief executive as the keynote speaker. “Many female prospective students are thinking about how they’re going to balance family lives and career. They listen to high-powered women and learn how they patched together support systems,” says Anika Davis Pratt, assistant dean of MBA admissions at Stern. “They want to hear it’s doable.”

• INSEAD
  Full-Time MBA
• New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business
  Full-Time MBA
• Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
  Full-Time MBA, Executive MBA