Gender Gap at Harvard B-School

Jennifer Hoops • May 2, 2011

"Why do men outperform women at Harvard Biz School?" asks an April 28, 2011 article on CNNMoney.com. According to the article, a recent study indicates a gap between men and women earning academic honors at the Ivy League institution's business school.

Students Explore Gender Gap Issue at Harvard Business School

The statistics are glaring. Of the 2009 Harvard Business School (HBS) Baker Scholars (the top 5 percent of the class), only 11 percent were female even though women comprised 36 percent of the 2009 class. Likewise, of those receiving first-year honors (the top 20 percent of the class), only 21 percent were women. The 2010 class had similar results. A subsequent study conducted by HBS students found at least three possible reasons for the gender gap:

  1. Women are less comfortable than men in participating in classroom discussion, and tend to hesitate before making comments in class. Participation accounts for about half the grade for a class.
  2. Male students are more likely to have technical or business backgrounds. While the study also found that women typically have higher undergraduate GPAs, it may take women a bit longer than men to ramp up their business acumen if their backgrounds are less business focused.
  3. The percentage of women who teach at HBS is significantly lower than the percentage of female students. Of the 93 full professors at HBS, only 17 are women. The study didn't hypothesize why this might affect women's academic performance, but suggested it could be a factor.

While the women who began exploring this issue are going to graduate this year, they are forming a coalition that will continue to advocate for awareness of gender issues among business students.

Jennifer Hoops works as a project manager within the IT organization of a global manufacturing company. Her previous experience includes IT consulting and software sales. Prior to earning an MBA and becoming an IT professional, Jennifer earned a Bachelors degree in Economics and Music and spent several years as an independent music teacher.