Research by the University of Michigan Business School (USA) shows that some women believe an MBA is a male prerogative. Others think employers will not give them money or time for study. Still others believe that career prospects after an MBA are not very bright. There are even those who fear that business school will involve "a lot of math." Another study (GMAC) found that the average age of applicants to MBA programs is 28, and women over 25 are typically burdened with family, so they resign themselves to the idea that an MBA is not for them. Finally, some women are put off by the overly competitive atmosphere both at school and in business in general.
Those who do decide to enroll are no different from their male classmates - both in terms of results and impressions of the training. According to a study by Brunel University (UK), female business school graduates not only receive promotions and higher salaries but also begin to view themselves, colleagues, and the company differently. They can talk to management, ask the right questions, and challenge the positions of others.
Support for women students is provided both by business schools themselves and by organizations such as the MBA Women Association (www.mbawomen.org) and the Forte Foundation (www.fortefoundation.org). Many schools offer scholarships "exclusively for women," and some (e.g., Stanford, Harvard, and Stern) hold separate recruiting events to dispel myths that an MBA and family are incompatible. On the first day of classes, many female students are surprised to discover that the business school provides a host of additional services and resources just for them — for example, a mother and child room, a parents' club (where they can meet like-minded family-oriented classmates). Harvard and Stanford, among others, have developed a new initiative to attract women (and men as well): the school is ready to accept people just starting their careers. According to Eileen Chang, assistant director of admissions at Harvard, this should encourage female applicants — because under this scheme, they gain time for professional growth before starting a family.
Nevertheless, according to Ruth Simpson of Brunel Business School (UK), "many MBA programs lag behind the real world: management has long ceased to be based on hierarchy, control, and issuing directives — it involves networking, the ability to persuade, and developing personal skills." Ruth Simpson believes that MBA programs should provide opportunities for developing emotional intelligence, teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. The program should emphasize soft skills, which some might consider "typically feminine." (However, not all business schools share this view.) Another unresolved problem remains: business school programs still have few case studies about female leaders, and there are not enough female faculty members.
What should those who are dissatisfied with the dominant role of men and the male approach in business schools do? For them, there are MBA programs created specifically and exclusively for women.
How it all began
The idea of creating such a program first arose among two graduates of Harvard's PhD in Business program. In 1972, they met again at their alma mater: Margaret Hennig from Simmons College was invited to lead a seminar "Women in Management," and Anne Jardim taught leadership psychology at Harvard. A year later, they had a conversation about the dominant role of men in business school. Margaret recalled being asked to leave a cafeteria where only men dined, and according to Anne's observations, in the cases analyzed, women appeared exclusively as a source of problems and never solved them! Moreover, there were few women in top management at the time, and only 60-70 female students at Harvard (for comparison, Harvard now has 630 women, 35% of total students). In short, as a result of their discussion, the two women decided to create a women-only institution — the Simmons School of Management in Boston, USA. Harvard Business School, in turn, invested $25,000 in establishing the Institute for Case Research and Development (to showcase effective management decisions by businesswomen) at this school.
Another "women's" institution — the International Training Centre for Women (I.T.W.) — opened in Amsterdam in 1989. By 2002, the number of graduates had exceeded 5,000. And in October 1998, an MBA program for women was launched there. Classes are taught by faculty from the UK, Germany, France, and Indonesia. According to the center's director, Elsje Dijkgraaf, "the advantage of a women's program is that a homogeneous learning environment allows women to perform better 'in practice' later on."
Finally, in June 2005, the Centre for Women Entrepreneurs opened at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK. Center director Don Jordan says that "the idea to create the first MBA program for women in the UK arose after studying the results of a survey conducted by the Association of MBAs. It revealed that over the past ten years, the number of women studying in MBA programs in the UK had not changed and stood at 27%. Another study showed that women would be more willing to enroll in MBA programs if organizers took into account students' family responsibilities."
Feel the difference
The founders of the Simmons School of Management believe that female managers are often better than men at motivating employees to work in teams and engage in effective interpersonal communication. Therefore, the MBA program at this institution, unlike a typical one, is designed to help women recognize their own strengths and potential challenges when climbing the career ladder. A flexible class schedule and the option to choose a program duration from 11 to 36 months allows even business moms to study - here, in the last row, one can see a child with a coloring book. By the way, 22 out of 27 instructors are women! Every fifth student enters the MBA program without a higher education diploma, but all have substantial work experience. Features of the learning process: here students work more in groups than compete in preparing individual projects. The program includes all traditional 'business school' subjects, plus additional study of various aspects of organizational behavior of men and women, their motivations, etc.
The MBA of the British University of Bedfordshire is aimed at owners (2/3 of students) and managers (1/3) of small and medium enterprises. The foundation is reflective learning, for example, keeping a personal development diary. Students are mainly assessed through project work, presentations, and personal diaries. Only four out of ten subjects involve traditional exams, and instead of a final dissertation, they defend a leadership project. Among the traditional subjects are marketing strategy, entrepreneurship, human resource management, strategic finance, and e-business.
The course lasts two years and is a combination of self-study using materials recorded on CD, virtual classroom sessions, personal meetings with instructors at convenient times, and access to the university's electronic resources. The first group started in October 2005, the next started in March 2006. There is talk of a third intake in September 2008 and of expanding the program abroad.
Who and why?
Students at the Simmons School of Management are generally older than typical 'business school students' (average age 35) and have more substantial work experience (average ten years). Camilla Mick, a graduate of the eleven-month MBA program at Simmons School of Management (former sales manager at a natural food products company), explains: "I feel I would have received a good education anywhere, but here I am studying with people like me. The school pays great attention to all the specific problems that hinder women's career building. During my studies, I learned a lot about myself."
Camilla's classmate, Gail Birger, a graduate of the two-year MBA program, asserts that the school helped her solve problems she faced while managing a large law firm. There were several troubles because she 'overstepped' higher management by launching several initiatives without their consent: "Many women do not realize how important adherence to hierarchy is for men - and that is precisely what was repeatedly emphasized during the training."
According to the founders of the Simmons School of Management, many students admit that in a typical business school, they would be afraid to ask questions that interest them for fear of appearing unprepared. But here, every student knows that if she needs additional training, for example in math, she will get it.
And what about the Old World?
The MBA program at the University of Bedfordshire educates women who have families, representatives of British ethnic minorities (37% of students), and women without higher education from all over the country. For admission, candidates must have at least two years of work experience (as a manager or above) and a higher education diploma (not required if significant experience). Don Jordan says: "Although the first graduation will only be in autumn 2007, the students are already showing excellent results." Students admit that they have become more confident, learned to speak 'on equal terms' with large companies, set priorities, figure out which partner companies to develop relationships with and which not; improved negotiation skills; learned to increase the value of services for clients; analyze and plan business development and growth; understand customer needs; implement ideas they had never thought of before, etc. According to student Lydia Selby, CEO of Selby Consulting, "the team of lecturers excellently stimulates the formation of business ideas through discussions of real-life situations, and online sessions allow doing this together with classmates and the instructor."
But the opinions of the students themselves are not the ultimate truth. Are 'female' diplomas valued by employers? Brian Moynihan, president of a department at Bank of America, replies: "The Simmons School of Management MBA program has been a path to success for many of our valuable employees. They are able to combine analytical thinking and a deep understanding of how strategy and execution work together." However, Jerlanda Milioto, director of the British recruitment agency Recruit2Day, admits that she has not heard of 'women-only' programs (and in particular, the MBA program at British Bedfordshire). But she notes: "I see no reason why my employer clients would prefer a graduate of a regular MBA program over a graduate of a women-only program, since both write 'MBA' in their education section. On the contrary, a small or medium-sized enterprise may prefer someone who studied on a program designed for employees of such firms, rather than multinational corporations."
Looking to the future
One can argue about how durable programs in the 'girls only' style are and whether they will be in demand if women appreciate the attractive offers of traditional business schools. But Margaret Hennig is confident: 'Someone might think that the problem of gender inequality in business no longer exists, but women are still underrepresented in senior management positions. When the MBA program at Simmons School of Management was opened in 1974, the share of women on boards of directors was 2%. And today it is still small. The need for "women-only" programs will disappear when the ratio changes. But that is still far off.'