There are 20,000 people enrolled in MBA programs in Australia but only 35% of them are women according to the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
The challenge that the business school’s Dean Alex Frino has set himself is to achieve gender parity in MBA enrolments, and quickly. Yesterday I was one of 10 women who participated in a focus group over lunch to discuss reasons why the MBA gender gap exists. Here’s what we came up with:
- The age group. The average MBA student is late twenties/early thirties, an age when many women are choosing to embrace motherhood. I started my MBA when I was 31 and my son was two years old. I assumed I could do both and so threw myself into it. Apparently that’s rare and goes some way to explaining the fact that only a third of MBA students are currently female. My MBA classes were overwhelmingly male dominated with late twenties, early thirties confident men in sharp suits and shiny shoes. The women were mostly either young and single or older, as in forty-plus.
- The fee. The top management schools charge around $70k for an MBA. That’s a big financial commitment for those who are earning six figure salaries. But what if you are not? The statistics suggest that for many women, even those who are in leadership roles in their late twenties, the gender pay gap may be probable cause. Many employers, particularly ASX companies, sponsor employees with leadership potential by way of total or partial fee relief. With the female leadership pipeline still a long way behind where it needs to be to achieve gender leadership parity any decade soon, women may also be missing out in this way.
- The ROI. An MBA costs more than most cars. The fee would take a good chunk off the average mortgage or fund the first stage of a startup. So like any good investment decision the return needs to outweigh the fee. With female full-time salaries floundering at just 82.9% of male colleagues on average, future career and earnings potential is a definite consideration in the mix. More women achieving in leadership roles would increase our belief in the likelihood of a positive return on investment.
- The time. Masters degrees are demanding and time-consuming. When I studied for my MBA I was advised to dedicate three hours of home study for every hour in the classroom, and I spent four hours each week at university as a part-time MBA student. It virtually precludes you from spending time doing anything other than working and studying if you choose to continue to work concurrently. It becomes a crazy juggling act when there are children and partners to devote time to.
- The confidence. When I think back to the trigger for my MBA, it was a promotion to a line management role that was outside my functional skill and comfort zone. I suddenly was responsible for a P&L and I wanted certainty. Like many women who find themselves promoted beyond their confidence level, I assumed that I needed extra qualifications or skills to be able to do my job perfectly. Most men apparently sign up for MBAs believing it will be handy when they eventually reach the top. Most women currently have no reason to believe they will ever have the opportunity to reach the C-suite and so planning for it is rarely on the agenda. But if we do magically get there then undergoing MBA studies almost seems like a must-do lest we get found out to be frauds.
Is there another reason that has prevented you from pursuing an MBA?