{"id":545,"date":"2012-05-19T15:39:21","date_gmt":"2012-05-19T15:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/news\/2012\/may\/a-way-up-for-women-in-business-international-herald-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:55:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:55:34","slug":"a-way-up-for-women-in-business-international-herald-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/a-way-up-for-women-in-business-international-herald-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"A Way Up for Women in Business [International Herald Tribune]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using Mount Kilimanjaro as a metaphor for business, 15 business students set out to climb Africa\u2019s highest peak last September as part of an elective course at the Rotterdam School of Management.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the aims of the difficult nine-day trek was to force participants to work together to overcome physical and mental barriers, according to Dianne Bevelander, an associate dean of the school and the chief organizer of the trek.\u00a0All students participating in the exercise were women, and that, according to Ms. Bevelander, is the point.<\/p>\n

The Kilimanjaro M.B.A. leadership course was designed to bring female business leaders \u2014 often accustomed to being outnumbered by male colleagues \u2014 to learn to trust and rely on other women. \u201cIt was the first time for many of them working together with other women, relying on other women, pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone,\u201d Ms. Bevelander said.<\/p>\n

Women are still underrepresented in many M.B.A. programs. But business schools are responding to demands by more companies for more women in upper management.\u00a0Experts, however, warn of the difficulty of getting more women into business school classrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because more women are needed in business and more women are wanted in classrooms, does not mean that more women will go for these spots,\u201d said Dawn Bournand, who runs the Women in Leadership seminar at a global M.B.A. fair organized by QS, a private education networking organization.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the hurdles that many women face \u2014 both when considering an advanced business degree and in the male-dominated world of corporate leadership \u2014 has helped some schools attract more female students.<\/p>\n

Besides actual or impending quotas of women on executive boards in some countries, many businesses are looking to highly educated women to lead their businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an increased sensitivity on this topic,\u201d said Sandrine Devillard, a director at McKinsey and an author of a series of studies on women in corporate leadership, titled Women Matter. \u201cWomen are different leaders, and what brings the value is the diversity of leadership,\u201d said Ms. Devillard.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a deliberate change in desired management style within the leadership can see more women hired for top positions, Ms. Devillard explained.\u00a0Business schools are accepting that they are part of the pipeline that produces these female leaders, Ms. Devillard said.<\/p>\n

While the Rotterdam School of Management\u2019s Kilimanjaro elective may be an extreme example, an increasing number of schools are focusing on building women-to-women networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more schools are using women networks,\u201d Ms. Bournand said.<\/p>\n

Francis Petit, associate dean at the Fordham Graduate School of Business<\/a>in New York, tries to informally pair female applicants with female students in similar life situations. Applicants who follow students for a day of classes can better anticipate some of the challenges of balancing work, school and private life.\u00a0Fordham\u2019s business school does exceptionally well in maintaining a gender balance in its classrooms. According to Mr. Petit, women made up 51 percent of the 2010 executive M.B.A. class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen do not seem to have enough access to inspiring female role models who manage to do it all,\u201d said Tanja Levine, an executive director at the Hult International Business School<\/a>, which has campuses in Boston, Dubai, London, San Francisco and Shanghai.<\/p>\n

According to Ms. Levine, Hult tries to overcome this barrier by connecting female applicants with both female students and alumni and by \u201cactively encouraging\u201d women to apply for M.B.A. programs. In its executive M.B.A. course, 42 percent of the students are women; 38 percent of the students in the full-time M.B.A. class are women.\u00a0Like some other business schools, Hult provides networking communities for female students specifically. The Global Society of Women in Business, for example, provides links to corporations, personal development and a service for women for mentoring partnerships.<\/p>\n

Since many of these programs often require extensive work experience, many women who chose to enroll must balance their family life with graduate school and in many cases a corporate career. \u201cSome of our main barriers are about juggling commitments,\u201d said Ms. Levine.<\/p>\n

Though many men also have families when they enter business school, experts say that women tend to still fill the role of main caregiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have three balls in the air rather than just two,\u201d Ms. Bournard said.<\/p>\n

Business schools that are popular with women often also ensure that courses are flexible to facilitate a busy schedule.\u00a0Ms. Levine says that Hult puts special emphasis on individual modules that can be repeated if missed and course times that can be extended without penalty.<\/p>\n

The Graduate Management Admission Council, the educational organization that conducts the GMAT entrance test, estimates that in 2011, 34 percent of global applicants for a one-year, full-time M.B.A. were women. In the same year, women represented 40 percent of those applying for \u201cflexible\u201d M.B.A.\u2019s, programs that can be extended over several years and taken part-time.\u00a0The same study found that only 27 percent of women taking the GMAT were applying to executive M.B.A. courses.<\/p>\n

Financial considerations tend also to be more important among female applicants, Ms. Bournand said.\u00a0To help overcome that barrier, many schools provide scholarships for women. A trend toward allowing payment by installment is also helping women decide to invest in advanced business education, Ms. Bournard said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Bevelander of the Rotterdam School of Management is organizing another Kilimanjaro trip for female executive M.B.A. students. For the next trip, scheduled for September, she is hoping to find female corporate leaders to share the experience with the students.<\/p>\n

When asked whether she herself would be part of the trip, she demurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is definitely a very long climb up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Read the full International Herald Tribune <\/a>article.<\/em><\/p>\n

Grow your leadership capabilities with an MBA in international business<\/a> at Hult. To learn more, take a look at our blog #FearlessFemales: Hult women in business (and sports) clubs<\/a>, or give your career a boost with our Masters in International Business<\/a>. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to learn about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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