Female Enrollment Breaks Records At Harvard Business School

The incoming class at Harvard Business School (HBS) is breaking records for female enrollment in its MBA program.

According to the Harvard Gazette, women now make up 40 percent of the incoming class. In comparison, only eight women joined the program in 1963, according to a report by the Harvard Business School.

The 50-year-old program began accepting a handful of women in 1963. Now, Harvard reports 12,000 graduates from its MBA, executive education and doctoral programs. Years ago, Harvard Business Schools noticed a dip in female enrollment, but the numbers have risen again to their current highest level.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an increase in female enrollment nationwide. Of the 2.1 million students enrolled in college last October, 71.3 percent were young women.

Recently, Harvard Business School alumni gathered for the W50 Summit to celebrate women from the program over the past 50 years. Sheryl Sandberg, an alum and author of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, spoke about women’s changing roles in the workforce. Stressing the importance of “leaning in,” or improving their career options, Sandberg advised women to be confident in their skills, saying, “The world is not going to notice when you take it down.”

Throughout the summit, a popular notion among the speakers was the impact of women in business and the workforce. According to the Harvard Business School study, 70 percent polled are in the paid workforce and the majority of them work full time. Those surveyed cited leadership skills and a supportive spouse as the factors that contributed most significantly to their career advancement.

Female enrollment in the Harvard Business School program and throughout the country is steadily climbing, and graduates and professionals are leading the charge. To that point, Nitin Nohria, dean at Harvard Business School, implored graduates to stay connected, emphasizing, “If there is one thing that I hope this event will do, it is change the relationship that each of you has with this remarkable institution. We need you to be a part of this institution with all your heart.”

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