On the gender scale, business schools still don’t measure up
Mint analysed class profiles from batches 2017-19 to 2022-24 for two-year postgraduate programmes at some of the top B-schools. In the case of Indian School of Business (ISB), we considered its one-year management programme. The analysis showed that IIM-Ahmedabad has persistently struggled with low gender diversity among students, reaching a low of 28 females for every 100 males in the 2020-22 batch.
Similarly, IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta witnessed their lowest enrolment of female students in the 2018-20 batch, comprising only about 30% of the overall batch. One exception was IIM-Kozhikode, but only in one batch (2020-22), when the number of females outnumbered the men. “Back in 2012, we had adopted a policy of greater gender and other forms of diversity in IIMK," said Debashis Chatterjee, director of IIM-Kozhikode.
“Prior to this, the average intake of women in flagship programmes at IIMs was 8-10%. The diversity targets—both gender and academic—were achieved through introduction of consistency in academic performances, including class 10 and 12 results." Meanwhile, management colleges are taking steps to up their gender scores, to improve global rankings. Himanshu Rai, director of IIM-Indore, told Mint that there are additional points to female candidates applying for the two-year course, and also to those with non-engineering backgrounds.
Interestingly, location of the B-school and student safety within the campus is a key parameter in choice of college for women candidates. Both IIM-Indore and IIM-Bangalore have highlighted how location of the city and its safety plays an important role. IIM Bangalore has student clubs like Women in Management; runs executive education programs like Tanmatra for women leaders; has
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