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Do Gender Differences Play a Role in Choice of MBA Concentrations?
0A survey by Ready4, a mobile learning platform has revealed that men and women differ considerably in the choice of concentrations for MBA. While Finance is the top choice for men, women seem to prefer Marketing and Accounting.
The earnings drop further down to $115,000 in Accounting even with a combined finance background, according to 2016 data from PayScale on the highest-paying MBA concentrations. Human Resources and Healthcare Administration, the other two concentrations popular with women, are also among the lowest paid.
The survey was conducted from March 2015 to September 2016 among more than 10,500 Ready4GMAT users that included 6,699 men and 3,936 women. The participants were asked to identify the one concentration they were most likely to pursue in business school. The survey did not seek the reasons for the choice or about their target schools.
The data showed that men are almost twice as likely to pursue finance and consulting in MBA programs as women. However, in marketing and accounting, it is almost a 2:1 ratio.
The wide gap between men and women in their choice of Finance as specialisation can be seen with 23.41% of the men proposing to take it up. However, Finance slips to the third spot among women at 13.77%. Marketing and accounting notched up 14.23% among women. However, only 7.12% preferred accounting and 6.27% marketing.
Then again, while men listed strategy (4.82%) and operations management (3.52%) among their top 10 areas of study, these did not figure among the top 10 for women. Health care administration (4.9%) and human resources (3.89%), two concentrations that did not find favour with men, figured in the choices for women. Consulting was chosen by 6.40% of men compared to 3.68% of women.
However, entrepreneurship seems to find favour with both men and women. It was ranked third among men (8.27%) and fifth among women (6.02%). General management was another popular choice notching up 8.66% for men and 7.16% for women along with international business at 4.67% for women and 3.43% for men. One of the advantages of taking up entrepreneurship is that the students could afford to experiment in the safe confines of the campus so that even if they fail, it would not matter much unlike the case of a start-up in the real world.
Another aspect is that men seem to prefer concentrations with more earning potential like Finance where mid-career earnings (15 years or more after graduation) touch $138,000. In comparison, concentrations preferred by women like marketing have mid-career earning of $123,000 in median pay. The earnings drop further down to $115,000 in Accounting even with a combined finance background, according to 2016 data from PayScale on the highest-paying MBA concentrations. Human Resources and Healthcare Administration, the other two concentrations popular with women, are also among the lowest paid.
A point to be noted is that since men account for nearly two-thirds of the survey respondents, the most popular concentrations overall tend to display male preferences. While 1-in-5 respondents put down finance as their top choice, Accounting (9.73%) and marketing (9.22%) came second and third, followed by general management (8.12%), entrepreneurship (7.44%), and consulting (5.39%).
Meanwhile, the disparities in choices between men and women are expected to narrow down as more women take up careers in areas like finance, a traditionally male-dominated field, experts say.(Image Source:Google.com)
