When Anna Markmann joined the part-time MBA program at the prestigious Swiss business school, she was hoping to advance her career in an industry that is historically fraught with gender bias.
She is juggling an MBA with a career at Credit Suisse – a leading financial services company.
“I wanted to move from a project-based role to a strategy role,” says Anna. “I want to have the security to lead bigger project teams and take on a more senior role, and the part-time program allows me to stay connected to the real world.”
It is a sad fact that finance remains a male-dominated function. Many of the most popular MBA Jobs are unrepresentative of the wider world and females in business are a controversial topic.
When Anna re-established the MBA Women In Business Club at St. Gallen, one of her goals was to improve the gender inequality that plagues European business. Just 6.1 per cent of executive directors in FTSE100 companies are female, and in October this year only three of those companies were led by women.
In the wider world, just 4 per cent of CEOs at Fortune 1000 companies are female, and a meagre 16 per cent of those are board members. Anna has spent time living in Russia, Germany, London, the Netherlands and Switzerland – and knows first-hand the gender disparity in business.
The WiB Club seeks to empower female MBAs – among other students and alumni – to succeed in business. For Anna, the problem of gender inequality can be explained by historical norms.
“It’s just historical, but it will change eventually,” she says. “Because historically there weren’t many women in business, physiologically you take those conventions with you into your work environment.
“Not so long ago women weren’t even allowed to vote in certain regions and there are gender gaps all throughout history. But it will change, and maybe within the next generation. This is just the beginning.”
St Gallen MBAs can benefit from a network of around 70 WiB Club members and Anna hopes to increase membership to 150-200 this year.
The WiB Club will help members connect with female business leaders, develop links to the corporate world and, ultimately, help students get MBA Jobs.
After studying marketing at undergraduate level, Anna worked as an account manager at various companies before joining Credit Suisse's Private Banking & Wealth Management division.
The WiB Club will help female MBAs launch similar careers.
“But it’s not all about jobs,” says Anna. “We also provide knowledge and solutions to family problems, such as helping women find child-care. There is already a powerful network of female clubs in this area, which are partnered with big international companies.
“We will similarly offer special workshops for women, female mentoring and of course help with finding people jobs. But we are closer than general alumni clubs. We all face similar issues and our members therefore feel more comfortable together.”
There is no doubt that Anna’s member’s share the same problems inherent in business. BusinessBecause reported this month that female MBAs in some regions can earn up to $8,000 less than males in their first post-MBA jobs. Across the globe, female MBAs earn about $4000 less on average than male MBAs.
The first challenge for the WiB Club is to help bright females get onto St. Gallen’s MBA programs.
“We try to recruit high-performers through social media and help them throughout the recruitment process,” Anna says. “We then try to empower them on their path to the top with fire-side chats, mentoring, or the company ambassador program.
“The program has around fifteen people from different companies in the local area, who inform others on equality initiatives that they already have in their company. Other members can benefit from the knowledge and hopefully get some work experience.”
Anna hopes to get more female business leaders on company boards, as well as getting companies to begin gender equality initiatives. In the long-term, she hopes to join up with similar clubs who share the same goals.
Improving gender equality on the MBA program itself is also a challenge that the WiB Club face. While international diversity is consistently at a high percentage at b-schools, gender diversity is much lower.
Despite record numbers of women taking the GMAT, few MBA programs in Europe have an equal percentage of males and females - although in the US, figures are slightly higher.
While women remain underrepresented in business, Anna is confident an MBA will help her advance her career. She chose St. Gallen for the diverse mix of students, among other reasons, and thinks the experience will serve her well at Credit Suisse.
“We have a lot of non-traditional backgrounds in our cohort, not just consultants and engineers,” she says. “It helps to be confronted with such a mixture in a business environment.
“The MBA class is small compared to other business schools, so we have a very personal touch to the program; our professors know us by name and are involved in our development beyond just lectures."
Anna has been able to focus on her personal leadership development - and the networking opportunities at St. Gallen are vast.
“The MBA has a long-time value and closeness to a lot of powerhouse-companies in the region,” she says. “It has given me access to the MBA banking network and allowed me to close some gaps in my development.
“I’ve been able to focus on my strengths and have gained more confidence. I feel I can move to a more senior role now.”
Anna may already have a blooming finance career, but an MBA has helped her reach out to others and address the gender inequality that has been a part of the business world for a long time.
Slowly, women are being represented more equally – and initiatives like the WiB Club are helping female MBAs find a route to the top in business.
There is still a long way to go, but Anna has taken one small step to solving a giant problem.
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