Lack of female leaders puts spotlight on Asian business schools
While dedicated initiatives to develop female talent are firmly entrenched at US and European business schools, they are only just getting off the ground at their Asian counterparts.
One outcome is that women are severely under-represented in leadership positions at finance companies in the region. Just 13 per cent of executives and 14 per cent of board members at Asia-Pacific finance companies are women, according to management consultancy Oliver Wyman. This compares to 21 per cent of executives and 23 per cent of board members at North American finance companies, and 16 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively, in Europe.
Sean Ferguson is associate dean of masters’ programs at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which draws students from around the region. He contrasts Asian institutions with his previous experience at Texas-based Rice University’s MBA program, which organizes a recruitment weekend dedicated to bringing female potential students to campus for an introduction to the school, with partial subsidies for airfares and other expenses.
“In [Asia] there’s a sense that if you do something specifically for women you have to do something to help men as well,” says Mr. Ferguson. “But if you look at the disparities for board directors and senior management, clearly there’s a specific issue we need to focus on.”
One element in serving women is to design programs that fit their lifestyles. For MBA and executive MBA programs, the typical student has between five and 15 years of work experience, a stage of life that for women often coincides with childbearing. Early-career masters programs tend to draw a higher share of female students.
Despite cultural obstacles, some Asian business schools are setting an example. Gender diversity consultancy 20 first named Hong Kong University a “star performing school” because more than 40 per cent of its students and 30 per cent of its faculty are women. HKU and its Women in Leadership Club have teamed up with Women in Finance Asia, a volunteer group, to organize networking events and discussion forums.
Kritika Kumar spent four years at credit rating agency Moody’s before attending HKU, where she is president of the Women in Leadership Club. “Business schools in certain countries such as France and the US are doing a lot in this regard. Definitely, the push is required in Asia,” she says.
In mainland China, the Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has an impressive roster of female alumni. Liu Yao, who graduated in 2006, is vice-president of Shanghai Jiayin Financial Services, which operates the Ni Wo Dai peer-to-peer lending platform. Its Chinese name translates as “You and I lend”. Ms Liu helped Ni Wo Dai become one of the first online lending platforms to expand into offline branches.