A Record Number of MBA Programs Hit Gender Parity
Credit: Hispanolistic / E+ / Getty Images- A record eight Forté Foundation member business schools reached gender parity in fall 2024, according to a report.
- Forté, an organization that works to increase gender representation at business schools, also reported that enrollment of women continued its slow climb in 2024.
- About 42% of enrolled MBA candidates were women in 2024, the same percentage as in 2023.
- Forté’s member institutions include some of the most influential business schools on the globe.
Women are making major gains at the world’s top master of business administration (MBA) programs.
A record eight Forté Foundation member business schools reached gender parity in fall 2024, meaning at least half of their students are women, according to a new report. That’s an increase from five in 2023, three in 2022, and one in 2020.
Forté, an organization that works to increase gender representation at business schools, also reported that enrollment of women continued its slow climb in 2024.
About 42% of full-time enrolled MBA candidates were women in 2024, the same percentage as in 2023. That figure has generally climbed by a little less than a percentage point, on average, each year over the past decade.
The rising number of women MBA students also comes alongside a record rise in applications, according to a recent report from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC.)
A recent GMAC report found a 12% increase in applications to business schools from 2023 to 2024 following two consecutive years of decline.
Forté CEO Elissa Sangster said that global rise in MBA applications helped spur the record number of programs achieving gender parity.
“A rising tide lifts all boats, and the same is true for women’s MBA enrollment this year,” Sangster said in a statement.
“Historically, in an economy with slower hiring, more people head back to school to earn an MBA. Women are typically more risk averse than men about pursuing an MBA — in part because they earn less and have more undergrad student loan debt as a result.
“So, we are heartened to find they are still applying to, and enrolling in, business school despite some headwinds on the diversity, equity, and inclusion front along with a slowdown in hiring for white-collar jobs,” Sangster said.
Forté’s member institutions include some of the most influential business schools on the globe, like Harvard Business School, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, and other magic or magnificent seven (M7) schools. Half of those member institutions reported women’s enrollment of at least 40%, an all-time high.
The eight schools achieving gender parity this year, along with the percentage of women enrolled, are:
- The Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School — 59%
- The George Washington University School of Business, long a leader in gender representation — 58%
- EDHEC Business School, an international business school based in France — 58%
- The Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School — 53%
- The Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim School of Business — 53%
- The University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management — 53%
- The Duke University Fuqua School of Business — 51%
- The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management — 50%
Some schools that reported gender parity last year, like the University of Oxford Saïd Business School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, no longer had at least 50% women but still reported high representation.
Sangster noted that an MBA — which has been shown to increase earnings potential and boost career advancement — can mean better representation in leadership positions for women.
“We will continue to pull out all the stops to ensure we reach gender parity in MBA enrollment,” Sangster said in the statement.
“Countless research shows that diversity has a positive impact on the bottom line, and investors recognize this, too. Having more women pursue an MBA helps to ensure they have the education needed to become senior leaders at companies and on boards.”
Evan Bouffides, senior associate dean of graduate programs at Olin, previously told BestColleges that the rise in overall MBA applications helped Olin hit the gender parity milestone.
“More applications means more of everything,” Bouffides said in an interview. “And while we did increase our class size, we didn’t increase it by double. We increased it by 25%, so that creates a fair amount of flexibility, too.”
Emily Haydon, Kellogg’s assistant dean of admissions and financial aid, wrote in a press release announcing the gender parity mark that women who attend Kellogg “will find advocates, programming, resources, and a supportive network, all dedicated to helping them grow into impactful leaders, both as students and long after graduation.”