Article
Women in leadership
Roselly Ramseyer-Torres, global head of equity products at DresdnerKleinwort Wasserstein in London, graduated from Assumption College in New England and Harvard Business School. Today she is one of the most senior female investment bankers in the world. When you meet her, she is vivacious, funny and thoroughly enjoying life. She is one of a growing breed of management-educated women executives, who don't just reach the top, but actually thrive and bring a new perspective to their company.
Although research suggests that the progress of women into senior management roles in the last decade has been slow, education is still the best route for those who really want to succeed in business.
Overall, more and more women are working in management and administrative roles. Today, the share of women in managerial/professional roles in the US is 49%. However, this is not the case at senior management and board levels. According to a University of Michigan/Catalyst study, in the US women make up 11.9% of corporate directors. Only three women are Fortune 500 CEOs. Yet there has been some progress. In 1995, women made up only 8% of corporate directors.
In Europe the picture is bleak. Women account for only 30% of middle-management and administrative roles, according to The European Commission for Equal Opportunities. In a study conducted by Ashridge Management College it found that "despite encouraging progress towards equality in top management, women still hold only 5% of UK director appointments among the top 200 UK companies". Though, again, there has been progress. This share is up from 2% in the 1980s.
Will the number of women in director-level roles continue to increase? Laura Tyson, the new dean at London Business School, is further proof that women can reach the top in previously male-dominated industries. She is confident that progress is being made. "The gender disparity that we see in top management has a detrimental impact on economic and business growth. Both business schools and many of the companies that recruit from them are, therefore, actively seeking to redress the balance."
However, Ms Tyson is cautious about the speed of progress. "There is still an imbalance in pay and promotion prospects and there remain issues about organisational culture that impact on the number of women who are ready to commit to the sorts of top careers that MBA programmes prepare people for."
She adds: "There remains a shortage of women pursuing careers in business compared to say law or medicine." In fact, women make up 30% of the annual MBA intake of top schools, compared to 44% at law and medical schools.
Rose Martinelli, admissions director at The Wharton School, believes "the starting point is getting more women to believe they can reach a senior role in business". Of the current class at Wharton, 31% are women, but a far smaller percentage of overall applicants are women. "We receive many applications from women in the US and quite a number from the UK. But we receive few female applicants from countries like Germany, Italy and Spain and even fewer from central Europe and Asia."
Ms Martinelli believes that corporations, governments and educational institutions need to rethink their approach to developing women in business. According to the University of Michigan/Catalyst study, the majority of women have negative perceptions towards business and business education. Research supports the view that women are motivated by roles in which they are "giving" and in roles that display "societal benefits". Business school, like senior management, is perceived as too aggressive and self-serving. Other obstacles to business education include a shortage of role models, incompatibility with work/life balance and the timing of business school conflicting with starting a family. So are these problems insurmountable?
The number of role models is certainly on the increase. There is a disproportionate number of women MBAs in director-level positions, especially in the consulting and banking industries. Raffaella D'Angiolino graduated in economics from the University of Rome in 1989, followed by an MBA at IMD in 1994. "Both myself and a female classmate from IMD, who joined Accenture at the same time, have made partner."
Yeon-Hee Kim is a vice-president at Bain & Company in Korea. She believes consultancy is paving the way in advancing women into senior management. "Consultancy is a talent-driven industry....If you are a star-performer who continuously delivers superior results, the company will do almost everything to retain and further motivate you regardless of your gender." Bain was the first consulting firm to promote a woman, Orit Gadiesh, to the highest management position in the industry - chairman. Yeon-Hee Kim adds: "Consultancy is the doorway for many women to reach senior management in industry."
Bronwyn Harris became an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co and, like many consultancy alumni, was headhunted to a board director position at De La Rue Plc.
Investment banks also boast achievements in advancing women to senior management roles, contrary to their image of being male-dominated domains. Roselly Ramseyer-Torres, at DresdnerKleinwort Wasserstein, believes that "if you are bright, then investment banking is a true meritocracy and you will find no barriers to your ability to rise to senior positions, especially at DKW". She adds: "We have many women MBAs in my department and they see investment banking as a long-term career. I think 75% of them have children."
Large companies are making a concerted effort to manage work/life balance and maternity issues to ensure they do not lose talented women. Consulting firms have introduced many innovative programmes, like extended maternity leave, crèche facilities, part-time working and home-working options. Even investment banks have made in-roads. Laura Vidal-Oregui is an MBA from Wharton who has just returned from maternity leave at DKW. She says: "Having a family makes life much more hectic and challenging. You want to excel in your work and you want to be a good mother. I have to say that DKW have been incredibly supportive. When I came back to work the bank provided facilities for me to carry on breast feeding - I was able to breast feed up to my baby reaching seven-months-old. Now I am back at work and I feel more motivated than ever. There are some tough times balancing family and work, but I would not change anything."
Probably the hardest challenge is to motivate more women to aspire to senior management. The Forte Foundation was established last autumn by a group of 12 multinational corporations and 11 business schools to help educate women from a young age about the opportunities and flexibility on offer to them. Corporate participants include; Goldman Sachs, Deloitte Consulting, Dell, JP Morgan, Kraft, P&G. Their aim is to provide mentoring support for women, from high school, through university and into early careers, to encourage them to take an MBA and to think of a fast-track business career.
To what extent does an MBA help women to succeed in business? The Michigan/Catalyst study found that women MBAs reported very positive benefits from their MBA experiences. The MBA overwhelmingly enhanced career options. Women MBAs also appreciated interactions with other students, the breadth of learning and the experience of group work and case studies.
The Wharton School has found that women benefit from their MBA in different ways from men. In particular the MBA helps build their confidence and their communication skills, both of which are vital to progress to senior management. In addition, women are traditionally weaker at creating networks, and an MBA provides an extensive alumni network. Possibly most significantly, an MBA helps establish credibility in the early stages of a woman's career, when she might otherwise be blocked or overlooked by more aggressive male colleagues. These positive experiences are feeding through into the number of female applicants. In 2000, 38.5% of GMAT test-takers were women - some 100,000 individuals. Over the past two years this figure has grown by about 15% per annum.
Financing an MBA is a barrier for men and women alike. In this respect women have an advantage over men. There are many scholarships designated for women while virtually none are exclusively for men. In the UK, LBS, MBS and Lancaster University management school have scholarships available for women applicants. Ms Martinelli encourages more women to apply for general scholarships. "The women who do apply, are usually very focused and put together outstanding applications. But the interesting point is that every year there are millions of dollars of scholarships unclaimed, simply because people do not know about them. Lots of scholarship organisations don't put information on the web, so you really have to research hard to find out about them."
Instituto de Empresa has established a new "women in management" programme, which is designed to further the advancement of women in management and entrepreneurial roles worldwide, with particular emphasis on Latin America and the Muslim world. The launch the programme, the school is offering women-only scholarships through the World MBA Tour, during the autumn.