The debate continues to rage on do women make better managers than men; are women better at multitasking; are women forced to lose out to men in the corporate field due to factors like marriage and children. Of course, the likes of Indra Nooyi, Lalita Gupte and Chanda Kochhar have put all such arguments to rest but, it is still a matter of concern as to why in only a few b-schools is the proportion of women more compared to that in many others.

For instance, in IIM Shillong, 40 % of all the students are women while in SP Jain Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai, women form approximately 30 % of the batch. At ISB, Hyderabad, the ratio varies between 20-30 % every year while at IIM Kozhikode the 2009-11 batch has 10 % representation of women but in the batch of 2010-12 the figure has shot up to 30 %.

Admission time

For most b-schools, recruiting women in large numbers is not a conscious decision. Merit is the overall guiding factor and in case there is not much to choose between any two candidates, some b-schools do prefer the female candidate over the male one.

Prof. VK Menon of Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad told Pagalguy that it is not just a coincidence that his b-school has many women. He says, If a man and a woman are both in front of me at the time of admission and I have to choose one over the other, provided both are almost equivalent in terms of ability, I will choose a candidate on merit.

ISB, apparently does its bit to encourage women to apply. Before admissions, the ISB officials hold special seminars and workshops in women-dominated places to explain the importance of women studying management. In this way, we get a larger number of women to apply which makes it possible for us to admit a good number of women purely on the basis of merit, adds Prof Menon.

A similar sentiment is echoed by Prof. Parimal Merchant, in charge of admissions at the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Yes, we do have a high percentage of women students but we admit purely on the basis of merit. We do not give women candidates a better deal during admissions. In fact we are taking more women because there are more of them applying to us. Besides, we have recently got a hostel done for women, so we can take more women now. Earlier the women’s hostel did not even exist.

However, Dr Sunil Rai, Dean of Mumbai Business School, thinks differently. He says that if he has to choose between a man and woman during admission time, and if all their credentials are the same, he will select the woman. Not that we have anything about not selecting the men but yes, we would like to give the woman an opportunity he says.

With regards to IIM Kozhikode, Dr R Pati says that the criterion for the selection of women for next year’s batch has not yet been decided and hence, cannot be discussed at this point in time. Prof Ashoke Dutta, director of IIM Shillong is certain that a huge percentage of his students will be women because he wants a diverse batch.

Why Women

There are various reasons why women are preferred over men in b-schools. Prof Menon says that they bring diversity to the classroom. They have a different point of view in the classroom and that helps when there are case studies being discussed. It helps bring in some more variety during the discussions and that helps in the improvement of the overall quality of the discussion. For Mumbai Business School, women are more focused and sincere and that automatically helps in better performance of the class in particular and of the b-school in general.

Prof Merchant however, refused to segregate his women students from the men students on issues such as performance in class. It would be discriminating if I have to think of women students as different from the men. I see the class as a whole. The students participate as one batch and as a class, there is not much to choose between the two on the basis of gender, he says. It becomes an issue of feminism if we have to think of whether the women are better than the men in class discussions, etc. Why differentiate at all? Women do not require any kind of lobbying when it comes to issues such as performance, Prof Merchant further adds.

Better Managers

Though there is no real proof that women make better managers, Dr Rai cited a survey conducted by Harvard Business School about women managers. The survey concludes that in the year 2020, at least 50 per cent of managerial positions in the top companies of the world will be held by women. “If the survey is any indication, women are going to take up more important positions in the years to come,” said Dr Rai.

Prof Menon says that although he has no proof to say that women make better managers, there are more women taking up important managerial positions around the word and it shows a possibility of having more women managers in the future.

However, it’s commonplace knowledge in a country like India that women would lose out to men in the corporate race because of marriage and children. By default, women have to take over the responsibility of bringing up children and that might break careers. But Prof Merchant does not agree on this point either. He says that, “Men just conveniently decide to let go of the responsibility of looking after children so one cannot say that women lose out to men in corporate life. That aspect is also changing and women are able to handle different roles, though as I said earlier I see men and women battling it out as a manager and not as women and men.”

Women speak

MBA women undergraduates do not think of themselves as a different species at the b-school and say that they are competing on a level playing field. First year student Mridu Khanna from SPJIMR says that the thought about ‘women students’ only crossed her mind when we asked her the question. It never occurred to me that there is any differentiation between the male and female students. But yes, the class is more fun that way. But at the end of the day it does not make much of a difference as everyone in the class is from a different background and that shows in the discussion during classes.” Mridu adds that during cultural shows and dance competitions, having more women is definitely an advantage. “We recently had a dandiya workshop and because there were so many women, it turned out to be very well,” she added.

Ashwini R also from SP Jain says that the class is definitely more vibrant because of the higher number of women though no one at SP Jain thinks of the gender issue as such. “But yes, in class discussion and while thinking about the future, women do tend to think a bit differently. Women keep the progress of their family in mind while men tend to think only of their careers. There is a difference in the thought process to some extent.” When asked whether women lose out to men in the long run due to marriage and children, Ashwini says that women are known to multi-task well and women like Indra Nooyi and others have shown that they can manage the home and work place comfortably.