Women’s enrolment in full-time MBA programs has increased, but more needs to be done
Key points:
Business schools have long struggled to attract women to their MBAs and other master’s programmes. So what can they do to support women in their further education?
Over the past seven years, women’s enrolment in full-time MBA programs at the member schools of the Forté Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing women in business schools and the workplace, has increased from an average of 33% in autumn 2013 to nearly 39% in 2019.
As the pandemic hit hard during 2020, some worried that this progress would stagnate or even reverse. Several surveys found women widely expressing their fears of being more at risk of job loss and being required to shoulder more responsibilities of remote education and work. The Covid crisis also intensified concerns and challenges reported by female candidates in prior research, such as the opportunity cost of attending school fulltime, wanting to complete a program in the shortest possible time, or balancing familial expectations.
However, the Forté Foundation’s member schools, which represent the top MBA programs in the U.S., Europe and Canada, saw the same percentage of women enrolling into their programs last autumn as in 2019, despite the uncertainty around Covid.
This is also supported by data from the Graduate Management Admission Council’s Prospective Students Survey, which showed that many business schools reported a growth in applications from female candidates in 2020, which is up significantly compared to 2019. This growth can be seen across all regions and across both MBA and Business Master’s.
Despite the unprecedented circumstances created by the pandemic, the majority of female candidates will not be changing their original education plans for 2021. This is particularly the case for international applicants, while domestic applicants are showing a higher willingness to consider a business school closer to home.
While it is good news that the pandemic has not had
a devastating effect on the number of women applying for an MBA or other
business master’s, business schools still have some work to do to ensure they
increase the number of female applicants. In order to attract female
talent, business schools should invest for the long term in understanding
women’s motivations for seeking higher business education and adapt their
messaging accordingly. According to a survey from
XYZ School of Management, business schools have identified the following areas
where they can offer more support to women thinking of doing further
education: Cambridge Judge Business
School commented: “Business schools around the world are fully committed
to encouraging more women to consider, choose and enroll in business programs.
We need to keep listening to women at every level to hear their needs and be
innovative in how we can offer business education to fit into their lifestyles.
We also need to engage with the teens and young adults to discuss the evolving
trends of working life, and make sure our future women have the confidence,
vision and role-models to fire a desire for life-long education and success at
work.” The business school added they are aware that women
encounter more barriers to education and the education sector needs to keep
pushing those barriers away. It added: “The efforts of business schools should go
beyond course design and enrolment outreach (though these are vital) to also
create new knowledge and research - with business - that identifies challenges
in achieving gender parity in business and proposes solutions. The Wo+Men's
Leadership Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School does just this and
aims to make a meaningful difference in gender equality and women’s
empowerment globally.