With more women in the office space, business schools and the White House work together to find a way to make the office more equal.
Women are changing the look of today’s workplace. Offices once dominated by men now have nearly just as many women. More women than men are earning college and advanced degrees.
Despite these changes, the U.S. labor market has been slow to adapt. Too few have implemented policies to meet the needs of working families that are necessary to attracting and retaining the most talented workers in the 21st-century workplace.
To help change that, the Council on Women and Girls and the Council of Economic Advisers met Aug. 5 at the White House to look for ways to expand opportunities for women at work.
The Council of Economic Advisers released a report highlighting the obstacles women face in their careers and the importance of business schools and business leaders to work together to remove those barriers.
Research has shown that diversity in the workforce improves performance, drives innovation and boosts productivity.
The report concluded that while women have made strides in the labor market and cracked previously male-dominated fields such as law and medicine, they continue to struggle reaching the highest ranks.
In 2014, only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOS were females, and in 2013 only 17% of board members for those companies were women.
While more women are graduating from college than men, they aren’t studying business, the report also found. Female undergraduates are about 30% less likely to major in business than their male counterparts.
Today, women represent only 38% of students in North American MBA programs. Upon graduating, women earn about the same as men but, after a few years, salaries start to drift apart. In five years, men make about 30% more than women and, after 10 years, the gap grows to 60%.
During the White House event, more than 45 business schools committed to a set of best practices that offers specific strategies for helping women succeed throughout their schooling and careers. The strategies center on ensuring access to business schools and business careers, and adapting career services to the needs of nontraditional students.
Business schools committing to the best practices also agreed to start from within by developing curriculum that teaches students how to lead organizations that encourage workplace flexibility and diversity.
Business schools can set the example by employing women in top leadership positions and providing support to employees with family responsibilities.
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