Thinking about getting an MBA? Today’s article was written by Katherine Watson, Co-Founder & Admission Strategist at JK, a consulting firm specializing in cutting-edge tailored Admission Strategies for Applicants from all around the world.
According to the GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey, 106,000 women took the GMAT exam last year. More and more women are pursuing graduate business degrees in finance or accounting. Unfortunately, this does not lead to more women in leadership positions or equal salaries for male and female MBA graduates.- In the US, more than 1/3 of MBA students are women.
- Even though female MBA graduates submitted 20% more job applications than male graduates last year, they received half the job offers (according to GMAC)
- In her first post-MBA job, a woman will earn $4,600 less than a man hired for the same job, (according to a report from Catalyst).
As there will be more and more women MBAs graduating, the vicious circle of the glass ceiling can be overcome. Simone de Beauvoir, in her very famous “The Second Sex”, wrote: “One was not born as a woman. One becomes a woman”. Think about it deeply: neither man, nor woman was born successful in business. The opportunity to create genuine success is reachable. Promotion and support for women in business from global companies and foundations amounts to more women MBAs graduating from top ranked business schools. This leads to more women hired by global companies who support foundations like Forté or NAWMBA. With corporate companies following this trend, women in alumni networks all over the world will hire and promote young female graduates and the cycle can finally come to an end.Readers, what do you think? Are you surprised by these statistics about women and leadership?Photo by University of Salford