Guest post by Hampole, Truffa & Wong: Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Power of Female Peer Networks
Patent – Patently-O 2023-11-10
Summary:
Guest post by Menaka Hampole, Assistant Professor of Finance, Yale School of Management, Francesca Truffa, Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Ashley Wong, Assistant Professor of Economics, Tilburg University. This post is part of a series by the Diversity Pilots Initiative, which advances inclusive innovation through rigorous research. The first blog in the series is here and resources from the first conference of the initiative are available here.
The glass ceiling — the barrier obstructing females and minorities from obtaining upper-level positions— persists. Even with decades of advancements in labor force participation and university enrollment, companies still underrepresent women in top corporate leadership roles. For instance, women constitute 40% of the workforce in the S&P 1500 companies, yet they only occupy 6% of CEO positions. The gender gap expands at every level of the corporate hierarchy.
In our recent study, we look at MBA graduates from a top U.S. business school in the last two decades, and we find a big gender gap in management roles. While almost all male and female grads step into management roles within 15 years of graduation, women have a 24% lower chance of reaching senior positions. This difference appears within a year of getting their MBA and lasts for at least 15 years, and this gap exists even when you consider factors like experience or the type of company they work for.