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Women MBAs

Quick Takes

Published: March 2010

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Women’s Enrollment and Degrees Around the World
  • In the United States in 2008-2009, women earned 36.3% of MBAs.

  • In Canada in 2008-2009, women earned 34.5% of MBAs.

  • Women made up 34.8% of the full-time 2008-2009 class entering the top 10 MBA programs in the U.S.2
    • The number of women in top MBA programs is changing at a very slow pace. Women made up 30.6% of the full-time 2000-2001 class entering the then-top 10 MBA programs in the U.S.3
 Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs - 20092 % Women Enrolled, (2008-2009 Class)
University of Chicago (Booth) (IL) 35
Harvard University (MA) 36
Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL) 33
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) (PA) 40
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross) (MI) 33
Stanford University (CA) 34
Columbia University (NY) 33
Duke University (Fuqua) (NC) 38
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) (MA) 38
University of California–Berkeley (Haas) (CA) 28
Average: 34.8%

 

 

 Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs - 20013 % Women Enrolled, (2000-2001 Class)
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) (PA) 28
Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL) 31
Harvard University (MA) 32
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) (MA) 27
Duke University (Fuqua) (NC) 41
University of Michigan (Ross) (MI) 27
Columbia University (NY) 37
Cornell University (NY) 27
University of Virginia 30
University of Chicago (Booth) (IL) 26
Average: 30.6%

 

 

Top 10 Non-U.S. MBA Programs - 20092   % Women Enrolled, (2008-2009 Class)
Queens University Canada 32
IE Business School Spain 31
INSEAD France 29
Western Ontario (Ivey) Canada 30
London Business School UK 27
ESADE Spain 25
IMD Switzerland 22
Toronto (Rotman) Canada 29
IESE Spain 28
Oxford (Saîd) UK 29
Average:   28.2%
 
Post-MBA
  • A 2010 Catalyst survey of global MBA graduates found that women lag behind men in job level and salary starting from their first position and do not catch up.4
    • Women make on average $4,600 less in their initial jobs, even after accounting for experience, industry, and region
  • Another Catalyst survey of MBA alumni who graduated between 1996 and 2007 found that5:
    • Women at 31% were about as likely as men at 36% to have been promoted.
    • Women senior leaders were more than three times (19% for women vs. 6% for men) as likely to have lost their jobs due to downsizing or closure

* Data for Canada was not available for 2003.

SOURCES

1 Unpublished statistics from AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (2010).

2 Business Week, Business School Rankings & Profiles (2010). 

3 Business Week, Business School Rankings & Profiles (2001). 

4 Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva, Pipeline's Broken Promise, Catalyst (February 2010). 

5 Nancy M. Carter, Ph.D., and Christine Silva, Opportunity or Setback? High Potential Women and Men During Economic Crisis, Catalyst (August 2009). 

UPDATED March 16, 2010

Quick Takes