Women and MBA: Understanding the association in the fiery business competition
A career in the corporate world can be highly competitive for a female, due to issues like: gender bias, societal norms, glass ceiling, etc. This made the MBA not so favorite field for women. However, due to a revamp in the social norms, significant progress is recognized as the number of women professionals in India and especially those enrolling for an MBA program have witness steady growth in the past year. MBA course is the incubator for the corporate leaders and low level of female participation means fewer women at the top management. A recent report suggested that women exist as 60% of university graduates, but the overall numbers in b-schools are alarmingly just 38%! Also, the count in the MBA executive program is more in favour of male dominated classes. Business schools play a crucial role in guiding both men and women about the organizational leadership. Another tally pegs 36.4% women with an MBA degree in the U.S.A.! Women were observed to use their GMAT score to apply for specialist programmes. However this figure when compared with the outcomes, Women with MBA landed at a salary boost of 55-65% of their previous income. Indian scenario: In the Indian society where women are discouraged from pursuing their ambitions and it is frequently ridiculed that they have jobs but no careers. Career commitments coincide with personal goals and familial responsibilities, making difficult for a woman to seek full-time MBA. Interestingly, getting the money to pay for the business school education is a big challenge for women in India. Lack of finances thus puts a final stop for a woman to apply into a business school. However, the wish to be self-sufficient remains intact. The average age of female students in Indian institutes for an MBA course, range between 27 to 33 years. This comes laden with familial responsibilities and pressure. A poor work-life support system observed frequently in the Metro cities also raises concern. India also consistently has one of the leading lowest labor participation rates for women. The Indian education system also doesn’t recognize and prepare women by refusing to acknowledge their contribution. The women also fail to get appropriate encouragement pattern from their partners as to balance or to go slow or look for work-from-home opportunities. They receive little help in childcare and household activities. Harbinger of change? In India, only 7% of the female directors on listed companies were observed and the Indian government decided that the matter should be taken into dire consideration and made it mandatory for certain organizations to have at least one female director on board. This was not the end of the story; the Indian Government led the change to new heights by adopting a female director (Arundhati Bhattacharya) as its chairperson for the largest bank of India: State Bank of India. Others like ICICI were already reaping the benefits of having a female boss but the change was highly the need of the hour. This change in winds undertaken by the government is seen as a highly significant step in boosting the boardroom diversity and gender equality in the times to come. The job market is already booming with Campus placement offers at top shots signaling positive trend. The campus placement has also boosted positive influence with salary level, the quantum of offers and the number of PPOs. Top B-schools were also thronged by the Amazon and Uber among other top names of the country. The rise in female applicants for the MBA has also seen positive impact in India. The institutions too are adopting methodologies to attract the females with a vision to have a gender balanced class, making it a win-win situation for both the sides. The course itself embodies equal opportunities for all. While gender roles are slowly evolving, the traditional leadership behaviors are closely aligned towards preference of masculine traits. Research claims that due to gender stereotypes both men and women leaders tend to exhibit the same behaviors thereby killing the very essence of a female viewpoint. Reasons Corporate want the change Organizations all over the nation like to take the opportunity to fulfill a social cause: more women heads, better programmes and pay parity for emancipation of women. Even Men in senior leadership roles are willing to invest in developing women and eradicate their career challenges. Clearly organizations are awakening to take corrective actions for a structured diversity and are in turn committing themselves to women progress to leadership positions. A few like Titan dedicated their TVC’s especially for dispelling the myth around a females progress on the corporate front. Why MBA? An MBA adds huge value to your career prospects especially if you are looking for long term career growth. An MBA is also a crucial asset for women entrepreneurs. MBA serves for growth in the business responsibilities and leadership positions as well. Women natural planners and have a pragmatic focus towards pursuing business education. B-Schools are offering varied scholarships especially for the females to give them better career opportunities. In a business school, your ability to be agile, tough and confident will increase greatly and so will your thirst for the quest of new opportunities. The women are epitome of good communication and your b-school will help you in understanding, analyzing and solving a problem vis-à-vis making you earn out of your skill! An MBA will make you sound on logical and quantitative fronts and make you a walking Ms. Numbers-on-her-tips kind of girl. This will be highly useful in earning a better pay band in your next job. The 2016 study by McKinsey & Company found that women are less likely to have business connections which can help them in accelerating their careers. This means that an MBA degree could be the necessary attempt to gain those connections in the business world. For those already established in a business profile and want to progress on the career ladder can gain considerably well by studying for an MBA program. With an MBA qualification the female leaders can not only extend their business potential but also gain the vital business skills needed to succeed. An MBA provides the female students with the knowledge and skill required to thrive in business environment by providing the insights on the strategy, leadership and other relevant business roles: as they progress throughout their careers. As there is an option to choose a specialist MBA program, which will directly focuses on a clear idea of the career direction and ambition, which will further develop the necessary talents to succeed within the chosen sector. MBA students have the opportunity to learn about top business concepts and the ideologies behind processes that can be adopted for achieving better personal and professional goals. An MBA program also focuses on critical thinking skills, problem-solving capabilities, financial know-how and improvement in business communication skills. So when a woman adds the MBA credentials to her list of educational capabilities, she can easily present her ideas with confidence and back them up with data based decisions. What’s more the MBA offers better ROI (return on investment). So young ladies, boost you up for a brilliant career full of opportunities with this career approach and get the benefits of a self-actualized lifestyle with the advancement. Women in senior positions assert that the MBA has given them management knowledge, potential to develop in functional areas, add value and confidence to lead others in the time of crisis.