I wondered what to contribute to the MBA blog page but then saw a fellow MBA student dropped the ‘F’ bomb in a recent blog. Not the cool ‘F’ bomb, but feminism, which can kill a cool conversation in an instant! Don’t roll your eyes yet, bear with me.
Most definitions of feminism will include some reference to equal opportunities for women in education and employment.
Sheryl Sandberg tried to address the second point by requesting that we ‘lean in’ at work and ‘sit at the table’ instead of waiting to be asked. Do we need to do the same when it comes to the MBA experience?
I was genuinely surprised by the ratio of men to women in my MBA class at almost 5 to 1. We can assume that women are accepted equally by UCD so why the low turnout? Are women reluctant to invest the time and money? Perhaps they are they hesitant to ask for support from their employers or partners at home? Maybe they have better things to do on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday… you get the picture. I hear women talking about MBAs all the time so why aren’t they doing it?
When sharing my MBA experience with female colleagues and friends most respond by admitting it’s something they would love to do it ‘for themselves’ at some point. However they all admitted that support at home would not be forthcoming. That’s a whole other blog but maybe Sheryl had a point? Don’t ask – just do.
Whatever the reason for low female participation, it’s something I hope changes. Does that make me a feminist? All I know is that well behaved women seldom make history.
Emma Burke
Midweek year 1