The low number of women on MBA and EMBA programmes has long been a source of concern to business schools.
Women are 24 per cent of the intake on the London Business School/Columbia Business School EMBA- Global, while on LBS’s EMBA programme this figure drops to 16 per cent.
Insead at Fontainbleau in France reports 24 per cent of its EMBA participants are women. The picture is even worse at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school, where 19 per cent of its 2007 students are women.
Why do so few women embark on EMBA programmes?
David Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the Graduate Management Admission Council, thinks the answer is straightforward.
“Younger women are going for MBAs but at the EMBA level, the commitment is just too much,” Mr Wilson says.
Women who already have family commitments and are in the process of developing their careers may not relish stretching themselves still further to accommodate an EMBA, he says.
Another factor deterring women students may be the masculine culture of business schools. According to research by Elisabeth Kelan and Rachel Dunkley Jones on Gender and the MBA for the Lehman Brothers Centre for Women in Business at London Business School, women students may find the lack of female professors and an overly aggressive and competitive environment problematic.
“Women do not find it attractive to come to a business school and become a surrogate man,” she says.
A further reason for the shortage of female candidates, adds Ms Kelan, is that women are less likely to be sponsored by their companies to take leadership courses or EMBAs. “If women are not given the chance, they will never go higher. It is self-perpetuating.”
At Insead, where diversity is a critical component in MBA and EMBA programmes, the school is making concerted efforts to address the under-representation of women.
Mark Norbury, director of the EMBA programme at the school, says: “We believe we have a good programme to attract women.” Insead’s EMBA, at 14 months is much shorter than most courses and is modular. There is an emphasis on teamwork, while leadership and personal development are integral parts of the course. The combination of these elements and the analytical rigour of the degree, Mr Norbury believes, appeals to women.
The school has also focused on financial aid as a means of attracting more women and offers three scholarships for female candidates.
Female alumnae are also encouraged to talk to their peers about how to juggle competing priorities.
Feedback has been positive says Mr Norbury. Initial EMBA classes contained 10-15 per cent women, but the current class is just under 25 per cent women.
However, he stresses that “We have to keep on pushing it to maintain it”.
The school is looking at channels to market, such as alumni referral and has established a gender diversity group.
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is also looking at ways to raise its percentage of women EMBAs. Bernadette Birt, director of the school’s EMBA programme, says the school is looking at outreach as a way of drawing women on to these programmes.
“If you can get them in the door to look at the programme and talk to other female students, it answers many of their questions.”
Kellogg tries to match potential women students with current EMBA participants, for example they may live in the same city, or work in the same sector. Female alumni also help via the executive women’s network, flagging up the programme and acting as role models for prospective participants.
London Business School is also tackling the problem. It offers two scholarships for women on its EMBA programme, says Lyn Hoffman, associate dean Sloan Fellowship and EMBA programmes.
The school also offers women-only information sessions and is working with various women in business networks. But Ms Hoffman acknowledges it is an uphill struggle.
Networking organisations, groups and clubs are also trying to redress the gender imbalance.
The Forté Foundation for example, is a consortium of corporations and business schools that aims to raise the number of women business leaders. Its focus includes educating women on the value of an MBA and supporting women financially in their business education. It offers mentoring, learning and network opportunities for its members.
Within schools themselves, many clubs have sprung up.
At Columbia Business School in New York, the EMBA Women in Business Group was set up over the summer.
Its founder Gillian Core says that, for many women, their early 30s – the prime time for entering an EMBA programme – is when their careers are starting to take off and when they have family commitments.
That business schools are aware of the problem and are addressing these issues is half the battle.
However, there is still much ground to cover.
In not attracting sufficient women, business schools are missing out on an enormous market warns Ms Kelan.
And, “as long as the culture of the business school remains masculine...there is a lot of work to do”.
