The Value of an MBA…For Women
A recent study conducted by Catalyst—a nonprofit organization intent on expanding opportunities for women in business—indicates that MBA degrees for men carry more weight than they do for women. The study points out that, in the workforce, women MBA holders lag behind their male counterparts in the areas of salary, positions obtained post-MBA, and future promotions.
From a sample over 9,000 respondents who graduated from 26 M.B.A. programs between 1996 and 2007, the study found that women earned on average $4,600 less than men in their first job post-MBA and that 60% of women graduating from business school end up in entry level positions, whereas only 46% of men with similar work experience end up in comparable positions upon graduation. Ann Bartel, an economics professor at Columbia Business School, points out that the disparity could be a result of both employers anticipating women to get married, which undermines promotion planning, and weak lobbying on behalf of women themselves.
Check out WSJ’s coverage of this topic. It’s going be interesting to see whether these new findings have an overall effect on MBA application rates for women in the future.
Thanks to Flickr for the photo.
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