Gender Workplace Inequality Impacts Almost Half of All MBAs, Forté Foundation Says
While the Forté Foundation’s last study covered the impact of the MBA for women and minorities, the latest digs into gender inequality in the workplace and how MBA programs are working to address it. It would be nice to think that an MBA degree eliminates gender inequality in the workplace, but that’s not the case. Unfortunately, according to research conducted by the Forté Foundation and led by Michelle Wieser, Ph.D. and interim dean of St. Catherine University’s School of Business, work still needs to be done.
A survey of 900 male and female MBA alumni found that nearly six in 10 MBAs (59 percent) have said that they’ve “personally experienced” or “heard of” gender inequality in a past organization. In their current organization, that number drops to four in 10 (46 percent), but it’s still too much.
Overall, 76 percent of MBA respondents believe that gender equality has not been achieved in the workplace. When you talk to women, the number jumps to 82 percent, whereas for men, the number falls to 63 percent. Worse yet, minority women feel gender inequality to a greater degree with 87 percent stating that they feel it has not been achieved.
“This new research sheds light on whether we’re seeing improvements in workplace gender equality for MBAs, what issues impact women and men the most, and how business school helps to prepare alumni to address,” says Elissa Sangster, CEO, Forté Foundation, in a press release.
The good news is that we are starting to see improvements in the workplace according to personal MBA experiences. One-third of MBAs (33 percent) said they “personally experienced” gender inequality at a past employer, but in their current role, that number drops to just 18 percent.
One-third of MBAs (33 percent) said they “personally experienced” gender inequality at a past employer.
The Face of Gender Workplace Inequality
As for what this inequality looks like? For female MBAs, it typically falls into three categories:
- Unequal opportunities for career advancement or promotion
- Hostile work environment
- Unequal career opportunities (special projects, global assignments, etc.)
For male MBAs, gender inequality looks quite a bit different. In order of rank, the type of inequality men have “personally experienced” include:
- Gender preference in hiring and recruiting
- Hostile work environment
- Inadequate or lack of parental leave policies
How Workplaces Address Gender Workplace Inequality
So what are companies doing, if anything, to address gender inequality? Around one third (38 percent) of MBAs believe their organization is working to address gender inequality, and at a personal level, 30 percent of MBAs respondents have individually taken action to tackle inequality at their organization.
For companies, those actions include:
- A group or task force
- Safe reporting mechanisms
- Updated employment policies
- New training on gender inequality
- Considering gender inequality in performance expectations
On a personal level, MBA alumni have:
- Advocated, spoken up, and openly shared information
- Worked to change their organization’s structure or policies
- Focused on gender inequality during recruitment
- Lead or participated in a women’s affinity group
MBA programs are also working to address the gender inequality issue with 62 percent of the 2016-2017 graduating class stating that their business school helped them prepare for gender inequality in the workplace.
To read the full report about Forté’s research, you can find the original press release here.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from its original source, Clear Admit.
New Forté Foundation Study Reviews MBA Impact for Women and Minority Students
What’s the MBA impact for women and minority students? That’s the question that the Forté Foundation set out to answer in its most recent MBA study.
Key MBA Study Insights
After surveying 900 male and female MBA alumni who graduated between 2005 and 2017, it found mixed results. While an MBA might boost earning power and increase equality in the workplace for minorities, the same cannot be said for women, according to the study led by Michelle Wieser, Interim Dean of St. Catherine University’s School of Business.
Post-MBA Female Graduates
An MBA may not be helping gender pay gap differences, according to new data from the Forté Foundation.
- Post-MBA, the pay gap between men and women does not improve. Women still earn less. In fact, pre-MBA women earned 3 percent less than men, and post-MBA the deficit widened to 10 percent for their first job after an MBA and 28 percent for current compensation.
- Women report less job satisfaction post-MBA than their male counterparts. They don’t advance to the same level as men and have fewer direct reports.
- About 34 percent of men and 65 percent of women think there’s a gender pay gap.
- Around 40 percent of respondents, primarily women, admitted to experiencing the gender pay gap. Unfortunately, these self-same respondents stated that they did not take action while others admitted to leaving the company.
- The gender pay gap in the study was 28 percent, representing $58,994 in annual compensation.
“While some salary disparity can be explained by the job functions women choose, there is likely unconscious bias and other factors at play,” Elissa Sangster, CEO of the Forté Foundation says in a press release. “This is a wake-up call—companies need to take proactive steps to lessen the pay gap, or risk losing highly-skilled women employees.”
Post-MBA Minority Graduates
The return on investment (ROI) gap still persists for both male and female minority graduates, with female minority MBAs earning 70 percent less than non-minority counterparts.
- For minority men and women, the MBA narrows the pay gap in their first post-MBA job and beyond—going from 24 percent pre-MBA to 16 percent post-MBA and 12 percent currently. However, minority graduates still earn less than non-minority grads from pre-MBA to the present.
- Overall, minority MBA graduates have lower career satisfaction than non-minorities when it comes to current salary and career progression.
- The ROI of an MBA for minority women is 70 percent, and for minority men it’s 84 percent.
“It’s encouraging to see an MBA provides greater economic mobility for women and minorities and narrows the pay gap for minorities in their first job post MBA,” Sangster says, “but the whopping gender pay gap and income disparity for women and minorities needs to be addressed, and soon.”
Forté Foundation’s MBA Study Conclusion
Despite the gender and minority pay gap, the Forté Foundation MBA study still reveals a positive return on investment. There’s an over 63 percent salary bump or higher post-MBA for both minority and non-minority women. Though the salary boost for men post-MBA is higher at 75 percent.
