Women Face More Obstacles in Getting MBA, Survey Finds

Men far outnumber women at top business schools because these schools don’t do enough to reach out to women and they create a less-than-friendly environment for those who do enroll, according to a study released Friday.

While nearly all of the 1,684 male and female MBA graduates surveyed were satisfied with their business school experience and the value of their degree in the work world, women reported encountering obstacles at school and at work that help explain why female enrollment has plateaued at 30% at major business schools, well below the 44% at medical and law schools.

“How are we going to get women to advance in business if they lack one of the vital ingredients, the MBA?” said Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst, a nonprofit New York-based organization dedicated to improving the lot of women in business. Catalyst produced the study, “Women and the MBA: Gateway to Opportunity,” along with the University of Michigan Business School and the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan.

“This should be a wake-up call for business schools and business organizations,” Wellington said.

The poll of graduates from 12 top-tier schools uncovered overall satisfaction among 95% of respondents with their school days and their careers.

The biggest problems in attracting women to MBA programs were the lack of female role models, a perception among women that a business career would be incompatible with work/life balance and a lack of confidence in their math skills. Significantly more women than men--42% to 25%--thought their employer would not encourage their MBA studies.

Once enrolled in business school, women were more likely to be dissatisfied, the study said.

More than half of women MBA graduates said they could not relate to people in case studies, nearly 40% said they did not have an adequate opportunity to work with female professors and nearly one-third described the business school culture as overly aggressive and competitive.

Two of the three California schools that participated in the study, the Anderson School at UCLA and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, enroll women at about the average rate found in the study: The MBA class of 2001 included 28% women at UCLA and 29% at Stanford.

At the third school, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, 38% of those receiving MBAs next weekend will be women.

“The Haas School of Business has always had one of the largest percentages of women among the top-ranked schools,” said spokesman Rich Kurovsky. “It’s part of the culture here,” where the dean is a woman (Laura D’Andrea Tyson) and the environment is “more a team-oriented, more relaxed atmosphere than at some of the other schools.”

The study made specific recommendations to get more women into MBA programs, including aggressive recruiting, improvement of the school environment and increased contact with young women that highlights the value of a business school education.

The study also surveyed MBA graduates from Michigan, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and University of Virginia.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

MBA Dismay

Men greatly outnumber women at top business schools partly because the programs are not female-friendly, a new study found. Percentage of men and women who agreed with these statements about their business school experience:

*

I could easily relate to people in case studies

Women: 47%

Men: 63%

*

Adequate opportunity to work with female professors

Women: 39

Men: 53

*

Environment overly aggressive and competitive

Women: 27

Men: 20

*

Women were perceived as less qualified

Women: 20

Men: 6

*

Source:”Women and the MBA: Gateway to Opportunity.” Catalyst, University of Michigan Business School and the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan