Why business schools hold the key to bridging the gender gap

Initiatives such as gender pay parity assessments, flexible work policies, generous sabbaticals, and extended maternity leaves have been implemented. Yet, retaining women remains a major challenge. Caregiving responsibilities for children and elderly family members continue to be one of the main reasons women leave the workforce. Even well-intended initiatives like workplace creches fall short of addressing their concerns.

As a result, women’s representation in leadership remains muted. A 2024 study supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the ministry of women and child development found that only 1.6% of Fortune India 500 companies have women CEOs. Another study by Deloitte found that women held just 18.3% of board seats in Indian companies in 2023, lower than the global average of 23.3%.

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Gender gap starts early

As the 2024 MBA admissions into business schools have shown, the problem of a lower share of women managers in companies actually starts at the roots of their careers and education.

The 2024 Common Admission Test (CAT) results illustrate this starkly: out of 14 students who scored a perfect 100 percentile, only one was female. Of the 3.29 lakh registered eligible candidates, just 1.19 lakh were women, 2.10 lakh male and 14 transgender candidates.

Further, the 2020-21 All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) highlights that while overall female enrolment in higher education has increased, women remain underrepresented in professional and technical courses. Only 30% of engineering students and less than 40% of management students were women. This disparity trickles into business schools and, eventually, corporations.

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What B-Schools can do

Business schools should attempt to improve the ratio of female students so that it will have a cumulative impact on gender diversity in companies.

Although the cut-off percentile for students’ eligibility and admission is often internal and confidential, it is learnt that many schools this year have lower cut-offs for girls than for boys. Hopefully, this will increase the overall number of girls in the incoming batch. The Indian School of Business (ISB) believes that its commitment to improving gender representation has resulted in a more balanced ratio of 53:47 between boys and girls.

In recent years, it has become evident that a significant majority of students in MBA cohorts come from engineering backgrounds. For instance, in the 2024 two-year MBA programme at IIM-Bangalore, out of a total number of 535 students, 393 had completed an engineering course, of which 276 were boys and 117 were girls. However, girls outnumbered boys in all the other streams like arts and humanities, science and commerce. Therefore, the solution to the problem of diversity in companies can partly be solved by encouraging more female students to opt for engineering before enrolling in an MBA programme.

Institutions like IIM-Kashipur and IIM-Kozhikode have introduced a supernumerary system where a certain number of seats are reserved for female candidates every year. The IIMs supported by the Centre and state governments have quotas for sections like economically weaker sections (EWS), scheduled castes and tribes, and other marginalised segments. It is possible to encourage more women from these categories to apply, gain admission and even get scholarships for support. 

Finally, companies recruiting from business schools should be encouraged to hire women through a diversity lens. By prioritizing gender diversity, recruiters can help ensure that the influx of female MBA graduates translates into more women in leadership roles.

Globally, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives are facing headwinds. Major companies such as Meta, Google, John Deere, Harley Davidson, Walmart and Amazon are reportedly deprioritising DEI initiatives under US President Donald Trump. This makes it even more critical for Indian corporations to take ownership of the gender diversity agenda rather than relying on global trends. Indian corporations should involve a larger number of business schools and higher education institutions and integrate gender diversity efforts into recruitment.

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