Only around 649 women are part of the 2016-18 batch at the top six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore — an almost 19% drop from the 2013 high when close to 800 women were admitted in these institutes.
While diversity levels have improved since 2012, what is worrying is that despite no lack of effort, overall gender diversity percentages at these six IIMs have been on a downward slide since 2013: from 32% then to 28% in 2014, 27% in 2015 and around 26% this year.
IIM insiders said there is no one overriding reason behind this trend considering that the percentage of women applicants has remained more or less the same. But some experts said women could be opting for other courses as there are not many role models.
“It is very difficult to say why there has been a drop. We will have to dig deeper into our applicant pool and see. Naturally, if 25% women apply, then we cannot get 40% women in our schools,” said Neeraj Dwivedi, admissions chairperson at IIM Lucknow, adding that the admission procedure hasn’t changed.
The institute has seen the representation of women plunge from 46% in 2014 to 32% in 2015 and 25% this year. This year, IIM Indore has the highest proportion of women at 38% while IIM Calcutta with 16% has the lowest. Overall, apart from IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode lost the most ground.
Popular in Services
Once the flag bearer of the IIM diversity push with 54% female students in 2013, the institute this year has just 26%, down from 35% in 2014 and 27% last year.
“After the initial spurt, there is bound to be a period of rationalisation. What is also happening now is that the pool of girls is getting more evenly distributed across all the six IIMs,” said former IIM Kozhikode director Debashish Chatterjee, during whose tenure the institute had achieved the 54% milestone. To be sure, gender diversity has come a long way from earlier years, when the average percentage of women across IIMs was 8-10% at best, he said. “Demand from corporates has also supported the diversity movement at B-schools.”
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
Vinita Bali, former managing director at Britannia Industries, said, “We need to study this phenomenon in depth. Are women attracted by different things or choosing different pathways? Are more women working first and then figuring out what to do? Is MBA the pathway for them?”
Bali is on the board of IIM Bangalore as an independent director and strategy advisor. Rohin Kapoor, director at Deloitte in India, said the trend could be a function of women candidates opting for other courses. “It is a matter of great concern that at a time when the government is trying to take steps to include more women in corporate boards, the number of women at B-schools is actually going down,” he said.
Consultants said there just aren't enough role models and business schools should work with companies to build a pipeline of highly qualified women in executive offices, creating women-friendly work environments. “A limited pipeline of qualified female applicants leads to a limited pipeline of female graduates for the workforce and lower female participation at the board level in the future,” said Vibha Kagzi, CEO at Mumbaibased consultancy ReachIvy.com. “IIMs and other Indian institutions must work on increasing female participation in their classes by building contextual intelligence on female human resources in India.”
Saugata Gupta, CEO at Marico, said, “Diversity, whether it’s gender or different backgrounds is essential, whether in institutes or corporates.”
GLOBAL PRACTICE
Top MBA programmes are usually among the most critical pipelines for future business leaders, which explains why diversity of backgrounds is a focus area for B-schools globally. An earlier ET story had calculated that the average representation of women at the top 20 US MBA programmes is currently at 38%. The top 10 US B-schools have 41% women. But global B-schools have a far more flexible selection process, said a former CAT convenor, who did not want to be named. “Quality of experience matters much more in global institutes and GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) scores, unlike CAT, aren’t that important.
There are people with a 650 GMAT scores who can make it to Harvard, while someone with a 750 score may not get through. Unlike India, there are also far less freshers in MBA programmes,” he said.
He rued the fact that unlike their global counterparts, Indian B-schools have hardly any flexibility in terms of anything except interviews. “Also, we are public institutions. We have to be very careful that there are no problems that can be challenged later,” he said.
