Percentage of women in leading B-schools

Ipsita Sarkar Gupta | shiksha.com

“The corporate culture is evolving. More women are entering the workplace. As a result, companies coming for placements specifically enquire about the number of women candidates in the batch,” says Sharmin Choudhary, member of placement committee at IIM Shillong. But a quick look at the female student ratio across top Indian business schools reveals a different story. With the exception of Indian Institute of Management - Kozhikode (IIM-K) and SP Jain Mumbai, no school has been able to strike a decent balance between male-female ratios. The percentage of women candidates hover around 21% to 30%.

Why are the figures so disappointing? “Even educated Indian families concentrate on finishing studies quickly so that girls can be married off by 23-24 years. Societal outlook, biological clock and various other reasons are given to justify this decision. A quality B-school degree isn’t part of their plans,” informs a senior officer from IIM-Bangalore, who wishes to remain anonymous.

The problem is not limited to the Indian subcontinent. Earlier this year, Bloomberg Businessweek published an article ‘Women in Business School: Why So Few?’. The article states, “Women may make up half of the world’s population, but they certainly don’t account for half of the student body on leading B-school campuses. Among the top schools in the US, the Wharton School is closest to achieving the ‘magic half,’ with women taking 42 per cent of the slots in its full-time MBA program, the fourth year in a row the school has surpassed 40 per cent.”

Back at home, IIM Kozhikode is the only school to have successfully broken the barriers. In 2013, the school admitted 196 (54%) women as opposed to 165 men. IIM-K, along with various other IIMs, awards specific points (to women candidates) to encourage gender diversity. But no other Indian institute has even come near the 40% mark. 

Percentage of women (2013-15 batch)

Women students at some of the top B-schools