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Women
Studying Business
The Benefits in America
Women’s
colleges in the United States uniquely prepare women for success
by offering a strong academic curriculum, professors who challenge
them to excel and a network of graduates who assist them upon graduation
and throughout their professional lives. Women’s college graduates
are well-prepared to attain top positions in their career fields,
and higher salaries than women graduates of co-educational institutions.
 Notable
women’s college graduates include Jeane Kirkpatrick, first
female US ambassador to the United Nations (Stephens College); Madeleine
Albright, the first female sectary of state in the United States
(Wellesley College) and Geraldine Ferraro, first female US vice-presidential
candidate (Marymount Manhattan College).
These women
are among the fewer than 4% of college-educated women who graduated
from a women’s college. Although small in number, women’s
college graduates are influential as indicated by the following
statistics from the Women’s College Coalition:
- Of ‘Business
Week’ magazine’s list of the top 50 women who are ‘rising
stars in corporate America’, 30% earned a bachelor’s
degree from a women’s college.
- Of the 1992
‘Fortune 1000’ companies, one third of women board members
are graduates of women’s colleges.
- Of ‘Black
Enterprise Magazine’s 20 most powerful African-American women
in corporate America, 20% are women’s college graduates.
Undergraduate
Programs
Women are earning an increasingly larger share of bachelor’s
degrees in business. In 1995, women earned 48% of undergraduate
business degrees, compared to 9% in 1971.
 Undergraduate
business programs at women’s colleges provide opportunities
for women to gain the knowledge and experience necessary to succeed
in the business world. High-quality programs are grounded in a liberal
arts education, allowing students to adopt a broad perspective,
think critically and creatively, use new technologies, interact
with people from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds and
refine their leadership skills. Courses explore topics of, by and
about women.
By participating
in campus and community organizations, students apply the theories
they learn in the class-room to real-world situations. Business
internships, which place students with employers such as Andersen
Consulting and Paine Webber for a limited period of time to gain
experience and supplement their education, are invaluable. A college’s
career service office helps students locate top internship and career
opportunities as well as professional and graduate schools.
Continuing
Residential & Graduate Programs
Many women’s colleges, in addition to their residential programs
for women, offer continuing education and graduate programs designed
for both men and women who maintain full-time jobs in addition to
family and community responsibilities. Both undergraduate and graduate
students have close contact with their professors, and course formats
are designed to fit their busy schedules.
Flexible formats
may include independent, guided study, on-line courses, on-campus
classes in the evenings, on weekends and during the day, and short-format
courses. Credit is often given for prior learning experienced outside
the classroom, while external degree and Internet-based programs
allow students to earn a degree from a quality institution without
having to relocate or leave their jobs.
Women and men
studying business at graduate level may enrol in an accredited Internet-based
Master of Business Administration Program, with emphases on topics
such as entrepreneurial business or management. Regardless of where
the students live, they can complete all of their coursework, and
converse with their professors and fellow students over the Internet.
In 196, women
owned one-third of all business in the United States, according
to the National Foundation for Women Business Owners. The foundation
reports that since 1987 the number of women-owned US businesses
grew by 78% to reach 7.95 million in 1996, outpacing the 47% growth
rate for all US firms during this same period. In 1996, women-owned
businesses generated $2.28 trillion in revenue, and employed 18.5
million people, representing 26% of the US workforce.
With a significant
and growing segment of the business world being filled, managed
and owned by women, a business degree from a high-quality institution
becomes invaluable.
Author: Marcis
S Kierscht
President, Stephens College
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