How male MBAs hold the keys to the boardroom for female MBAs
View(s):Are the efforts of business schools to attract more women into their MBA programmes missing the point? Sri Lanka’s most sought after Postgraduate Business Consultant, Dhanushka Kulathilaka talks about one of the biggest problems in the corporate world, which is discussed the least.
Some issues never seem to get resolved
Despite all the development programmes, mentoring schemes, and family-friendly work environments, the people around major boardrooms or partnership tables are still likely to be owners of a Y chromosome and, consequently, a nice, fat bank account. 
Women account for less than 1% of the CEO positions and top level management in Sri Lanka. Only eight of the CEO positions in the Fortune 100 are held by women, while in the U.K.’s FTSE 100 they are even more scarce, holding just two of the top jobs. Mr. Dhanushka Kulathilaka who is considered to be the country’s most respected Post Graduate Business consultant says, the latest statistics on the number of women who reached an executive board position in 2012 make grim reading. Within the UK’s FTSE 100, just 17% of directorships are held by women. Yet with so much research showing that organizational performance is improved when there is a more equal balance, it is difficult to understand why businesses haven’t been quicker to put this right. Furthermore Dhanushka’s personal research also shows post-MBA salaries at graduation are higher for men than they are for women in almost all business sectors of the country.
Women outnumber men at entry-level positions
What does this have to do with education, you might ask? Well, clearly women must have the relevant training, experience and skills in order to reach senior management roles. And as educators prepare people for the world of work, this is where universities and business schools have a part to play. We know that girls achieve higher grades coming out of high school, and are more likely to pursue undergraduate studies. And yet a few years later when those who aspire to get into senior management roles, they join MBA programmes, but women seem to have almost disappeared. The average percentage of female students on the UK MBA programmes ranked by the Financial Times in 2012 is just 24%.
Dhanushka however feels that, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how distant it may seem. Dhanushka points out that in many professions women outnumber men in entry-level positions, which compels us to deduce that this is bound to create more women leaders in the long run. After all, the Sri Lankan parliament now has more female members than ever before, so why do we assume this won’t eventually be replicated in the world of business? But with progress so slow toward this laudable goal, shouldn’t the classic conduit to the top? Should the countries’ leading MBA programs be doing more to tip the balance?
MBA programmes in Sri Lanka, MBA curriculum and gender diversity
At first sight, all most all business schools in Sri Lanka seem to have no problem with gender diversity. Almost every single photo so beloved of school websites, brochures and advertisement—students clustered around a laptop, chatting happily in the sunshine, listening earnestly to a professor—has the right balance of men and women. But when you look at the statistics, the reality is a different story.
While one way of looking at a solution to this problem is where schools serious about tackling this challenge, increase the number of campus events and information sessions for women, as well as mentorship programmes that engage female alumni and other role models. Schools also need more women academics, including those who head up programmes, on the basis that this might reduce any subliminal prejudice against female candidates. More active marketing of an MBA’s benefits to less traditional MBA professions, such as HR or creative industries, could also help.
But they also have to tackle a major reason why women don’t go to business school: bad timing. Unlike other graduate programmes, the MBA requires a minimum of work experience—the average is just under four years at many top schools. Returning to the job market in your late 20s with significant student debt and the possibility of starting a family in the years ahead can make the ROI of business school far less attractive.
Are business schools missing a point?
But might it be that business schools are missing the point? Instead of focusing solely on their female MBAs, could it be that their role should be to educate and inspire their male MBAs so that they can begin to effect change in their own organisations? After all, men do tend to have the greater social capital. They therefore hold the power to transform our workplaces into environments that are suitably designed and structured to enable everyone to succeed in equal measure.
A good start would be for business schools to take a step back and conduct a critical review of their MBA programme culture and curriculum. At what point does diversity get discussed with the whole class? When do their students learn about the ways in which organisations might change structurally and culturally to support people – of either gender – who want to take a less traditional route to the top?
A few good MBA’s
However credit needs to be given to certain high ranked MBA programmes existent in the country where certain modules such as entrepreneurship and leadership have certain areas talking about successful women entrepreneurs and leaders on their MBA programme. It is important that MBA programmes look at the curriculum of some of the more high ranked MBA’s in the country and work hard to rebalance their MBA programmes. A good start would be for business schools to take a step back and conduct a critical review of their MBA programme culture and curriculum. At what point does diversity get discussed with the whole class? When do their students learn about the ways in which organisations might change structurally and culturally to support people – of either gender – who want to take a less traditional route to the top?
So what’s the answer? Encourage women to apply sooner? Provide more scholarships? Or persuade the banks, consultancies, and multinationals crying out for more female executive talent to back their words with sponsorships? Whatever the mix, it’s worth business schools experimenting in a bid to create a virtuous circle. Because more women testifying to the value of their MBA should in turn attract more women to the MBA. And that could reset the balance of leadership. Email your comments to: givemeyourcomments@gmail.com
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