The number of women candidates in management programmes is increasing steadily across most B-schools. However, this has not increased women at the top management levels.
On average, B-schools report a 30% rise in the number of women candidates compared to the previous decade. The BITS School of Management (BITSoM), recently started its first academic session for the two-year residential MBA degree programme with its founding class of 140 students, out of which 35% are women.

IIM Kozhikode (IIM K) had breakthrough years in 2013 and 2020 when the institute welcomed a diverse batch with more than 50% women candidates in their postgraduate programme (MBA). Between these two peaks in IIM K, the average representation was 30% that rose to 39% of women candidates for this academic year.

“This has now become a new encouraging norm across all IIMs. The women enrolment used to be only 8-10% women for about 50 years,” says Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM Kozhikode (IIM K), pointing out that the major highlight of the incoming batch of 2021 is a record high of 53% women for IIM K’s full-time PhD programme.

At The NorthCap University, the percentage of women in MBA programmes has been 53%, 46%, 40% respectively in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. “These percentages show a marginal rise from that of the global percentage of 40% for the year 2019 for women applying for MBA programmes. The reason for the decline can be attributed to the ongoing pandemic, its impact on employment and income generation capacity of people,” says Swaranjeet Arora, head of department, School of Management, The NorthCap University.

Increasing diversity
One reason for the rise in numbers of women candidates is the attempt being made by the institutes to bring in more diversity. “Institutes are ensuring diversity, as more of it in classrooms leads to enriched learning experiences for students,” says Vaidyanathan Jayaraman, professor, Supply Chain Operations, SP Jain School of Global Management.

“Four years ago, the management decided that 30% of seats will be reserved for girls. That’s how we ensured at least 30% of students will be women in the Mumbai campus. In Bengaluru and Hyderabad campuses, we have 40% women students,” says Meena Chintamaneni, registrar, SVKM’s NMIMS, suggesting that times are changing, and that corporate are no longer hesitant in hiring women in top leadership positions. “Gone are the days when you were required to do one particular task. Today, market needs people who can multitask. Women are emotionally more balanced because they take care of a lot of things. A good homemaker is also a good manager, it’s an inborn talent,” Chintamaneni adds.

Demand for equal opportunities

Diversity at the workplace provides a congenial environment for innovation and it also improves stakeholder’s involvement. “We know from our own research and experience that diversity is the basis of innovation in any ecosystem. With 30% women faculty and 40% members from the Board of Governors being women we also believe in practising what we preach. One focus area of corporate houses in the last few years has been to improve the stakeholder orientation, which is the contribution of the firm to its stakeholders at large, and especially focus on measurable aspects such as the environmental, social and governance aspects of conducting a business. Moreover, these attributes are key determinants for attracting investors and funds. Diversity in the workplace is being spearheaded by these women in management and Institutes like which foster such environment. It is only a matter of time that women leaders take the corporate boardrooms by storm owing to their enhanced capabilities and the provision of equal opportunities,” says Chatterjee.

However, more women candidates joining management programme doesn’t always translate into more women CEOs in the country. A report from Development Dimensions International India says that the gender gap in the country is widening as women move up the corporate structure with 40% seeking first-time leadership opportunities. This decelerates to 34% at frontline leader level, and eventually drops to only 12% at C-suite candidates’ level.

“Most organisations focus on recruiting women at entry-level, but at the higher level, the number becomes lesser. Somewhere there is what we call the ‘leaky pipeline’ that women find it difficult to move up the ladder as seamlessly as men. Therefore, organisations not just need to recruit women but also look at their systems and processes and make sure that they are not biased towards women. For instance, every time a woman gives birth, she loses two years of seniority at the workplace, we call it the ‘motherhood penalty.’ Your commitment to the organisation is questioned. This is one aspect and the other is that not recognising that women have their set of other roles and responsibilities. Organisations need to think a little bit about how they create systems to facilitate that,” says Leena Chatterjee, professor, BITSoM.