In the past few years, business schools and programs, which have a large male enrollment percentage, have reported that they are seeing more female students enrolling in the past couple of years than ever before. Forbes claims that the top 20 business schools in the world have now balanced their MBA student population, meaning that neither women nor men make up more than 60% of the student population.
The journey to complete equality in the business field is ongoing as there’s still discrimination against women in these educational spaces. However, the progress already made is clear as Grosse Pointe North alumni Grace Cueter speaks up about her experience in business thus far. The world of business didn’t pique any interest in Grace until she was applying for college.
“At that point, I had little idea as to what I wanted to do in college and my future, so I explored many different majors. I found that a business major had the possibility to incorporate many different subjects and topics that interested me in high school, including math, economics, Spanish, psychology,” Cueter said.
As she currently attends Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, she explains why women might feel discouraged from the business field.
“At Ross, there have been many instances where I have been surrounded by men interested in finance, which is not a current interest of mine,” Cueter said. “Their voices are dominant, and their presence can definitely be intimidating.”
Despite the initial fear of entering a school with a large male population, Cueter admits that, in her experience, there is plenty of female representation in the business realm.
“In business school, I am constantly surrounded by women. My classes have an equal distribution of men and women, and I have had the opportunity to talk to many successful women in business at Ross,” Cueter said. “While there is definitely still work to be done in women’s representation in business, it seems as though major improvements have been made.”
The importance of female presence in male dominated fields is now recognized more than ever. The Forte Foundation, a group of 56 business schools that encourages women to enroll in business school while also giving them the resources to do so, states that women make up 41% of students in full-time MBA programs. Furthermore, there was an increase of 39% in woman enrollment in 2020 which is the highest female enrollment rate since Forte was established. Many programs and foundations have helped with the success of women in business but the real importance is the perseverance and strength women have shown in this ongoing process to complete equality.
The record number of female enrollment in business schools has influenced many women to explore their curiosity of the field. Grosse Pointe North student Leilani Feltman has long standing aspirations towards the business field.
“In seventh grade at Parcells we had a job fair and a representative from Cadillac came to talk about marketing and that’s when I really decided that I wanted to pursue business and business classes in high school,” Feltman said.
Her interest in business has not faded in the least as she joined DECA, the Distributive Education Clubs of America focused on immersing students in career paths like finance, marketing, management and hospitality, in the 10th grade.
“I joined DECA last year mostly because one of my favorite business teachers told me to but it also seemed like a great opportunity and everyone that I talked to in DECA enjoyed it and had fun,” Feltman said.
Feltman further expands on her experience in business settings such as DECA and describes what the women representation has looked like while she’s been in business classes.
“In business classes I tend to notice way more men. In DECA I feel like it’s pretty equal and there definitely seems to be more and more girls joining it overall,” Feltman said.
Now that we are seeing a shift in women’s attendance in business settings, more people, programs and officials are starting to acknowledge the importance of women’s representation especially in fields where they are typically underrepresented.
“I believe that women in business have the possibility to increase productivity in the workplace, as gender diversity, in my experience, can boost focus and create healthy competition,” Cueter said.
