<p>I haven’t read the whole thread so I’m not sure where its going but I thought I would throw in my 2c. </p>
<p>Anyways, skimming the article it seemed that while gender issues were a problem many of their examples were anecdotal. How common they are I don’t know. Also, as someone that has studied stats and polling, I Know that many of those polls can be manipulated. Not saying they aren’t true but I take them with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>I think one of the issues many people don’t talk about though is that oftentimes men (particularly in non-western countries) tend to view sexism as actually HELPING women. For example, my friend from South Korea told me that many men don’t feel comfortable giving women lots of work at their job because it makes them “unladylike.” Unfortunately many women run with this and therefore, employers tend to avoid hiring women even though many may be quite talented. In response Korea has made lots of “women only” areas (i.e. lounges, libraries, parking lots, etc.) to “fix” this problem. However, its only made it worse. A lot of these policies have since been reduced or constitutionally banned due to the gender equality clause of the Korean constitution. Korea also used to have a very broad sexual harassment law (i.e. you could be civilly sued for swearing in front of a girl) that has since been narrowed. As you can probably see employers weren’t thrilled hiring many women because they basically were told that under the law they had to give them tons of special privileges. Im not saying the US is like that but much of the PC stuff in college is similar. </p>
<p>Therefore, I wonder how much of HBS gender equality initiatives will really help. A lot of these initiatives are simply plans to change the culture in a way that doesn’t help women overcome problems such as lack of participation but condones their lack of participation. Unfortunately, the real world isn’t like that. However, I do believe the participation part of the grade is too important (50% is WAY too high). </p>
<p>Finally, I think people need to realize Biz school isn’t for everyone. There are many successful people that go to more bookish types of grad. school. Tons of the quants on wall street never got an mba and make millions. Also, lots of people get masters in other fields and are very successful (even on wall street). Finally many people are successful in fields that have nothing to do with their college major or even an MBA (i.e. Lloyd Blankfein, Paul Tudor Jones, David Einhorn, etc.). In fact I believe David Einhorn was rejected from every grad. school he applied to. I think people overestimate the importance of an MBA. HBS should fix some of the shenanigans that goes on, but they should also ensure that people that go there are a good fit not just another piece of a diversity initiative. </p>
<p>Lastly, when I was in HS most of the top students were math/science focused. I never really noticed any gender issues and most of the math/science classes I took were 50/50. I also didn’t notice any when I got to college. However, I did notice that many of the women TA’s I had gave off a sense of nervousness when teaching. I don’t know if it gets worse at an older age but I did notice that.</p>