The concept of management education has taken place in the USA   long back, about 100 years ago. This new area of education was slowly accepted globally and became popular. Students can join post graduate management programmes   from different backgrounds. This study helps students to improve their professional skills and   to work in the business world. Not only students after finishing their graduation join this programme   but working people can also join management education to improve their skills. This programme can be offered in full time, part time and online mode, which facilitate students to choose programmes as per their requirement and convenience.

Initially a gender bias was observed in management education. Women were not showing interest to register for this course. They mostly considered pursuing their study with known and familiar courses. It is observed that not only students,   but the number of female faculties were less compared to male faculties in management institutes or B-Schools.

In India when IIMs were established very few girl students joined in the first few batches. Even in some groups only boys took admission for management education. Scenario started changing and women started showing interest in enrolling in B School to build their career in the corporate world.  Besides IIMs., other institutes also started offering management courses at lower fees.

Gender gap is getting reduced over the years.  Women aspire to earn management qualification for their career advancement, promotion and to achieve leadership roles. Business schools provide opportunities in achieving a degree or diploma in different areas under social science. Women can decide on specialisation subjects as per their own choice, which encourages them to join management courses. After finishing these courses, some of the women are starting their own business. Business schools have started giving importance to entrepreneurship   development courses too. Women like to pursue this course as investment in management education usually shows positive return and good placement.

Today the ratio of students is almost equal between boys and girls in management education which used to be 3:1 just five years before.  Number of women faculty is also increasing over the years.  This figure varies from big cities to small cities, one country to another country. Awareness about this programme will bring more female participation and their contribution to the development of the business world.

About the Author

Dr. Swati Basu Ghose has more than 25 years of teaching, research and industry experience. She is   currently working  as HoD in The Department of Marketing and IB in Ramaiah Institute of Management. Previously she has worked with several other academic organizations like NIILM, ISME, IBMR and Anderson School of Management in University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Dr. Basu Ghose has visited and interacted with members of faculty in UK and US. She has presented her research papers in several national and international conferences and published research papers in Management Journals. She has attended NABC – Business Forum 2017 in Santa Clara, USA. She is a recognized PhD guide in Ramaiah Institute of Applied Sciences and   Research Centre of RIM for University of Mysore. She has conducted FDP on Marketing Case Studies, reviewed books, reviewed conference papers, moderated panel discussions, chaired session at IIM-C conference, played role as external moderator(evaluation) in Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences ,delivered lectures at webinars and invited as resource person for certificate courses on Entrepreneurship Development. Currently she is working and developing on case studies related to women entrepreneurs.