The Gender Confidence Gap and the Executive MBA

Self-belief is the fuel that keeps us trying in the face of obstacles or discouragement. When self-belief and confidence are lacking, sparks of genius tend to dull, shoulders hunch, and we back up. In the context of business and negotiation, retreating, or not putting ideas forward, typically works to the detriment of success.  

Research shows that the disparity in self-confidence between men and women, where women report being less self-assured, is a universal phenomenon. Interestingly, it seems to impact Western countries such as the UK, Australia and the US more than emerging nations. "I can speculate that in Western societies, women are more likely to compare themselves to men. Men tend to have higher-status positions and higher salaries, for example, so the comparison is less favorable for women," says Wiebke Bleidorn, associate professor of psychology at UC Davis and author of the aforementioned research. 

A 2016 McKinsey study of 132 companies across the US found that only 67% of women surveyed felt that they were able to participate meaningfully in meetings, as compared to 74% of men. Women were also less likely to report receiving challenging assignments, less likely to feel that they were being turned to for input, and less likely to believe that their contributions were valued. Gender bias is still, it seems, a factor slowing women's career progress, but the gender confidence gap may also have a role to play.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO and a Harvard MBA, asks that more women 'lean in' to seize on opportunity. Yet, 'leaning in' in business, especially when the numbers of female leaders deplete the higher up the corporate ladder you get, is arguably pretty daunting.

Here are five ways in which an executive MBA (EMBA) from one of the world's top business schools can help female professionals, not only to build on their repertoire of business skills, but also to find the confidence to aim for, and reach, the c-suite.   

While conversations about gender, and in this instance, the gender confidence gap make it seem all doom and gloom, the good news is that the number of women entering top business schools is steadily rising. Currently, class proportions for the EMBA hover at around 30%. This means that there will be others in the class who are in a similar boat to you; female leaders who are intent on progressing their business careers, open to sharing ideas, and juggling the same busy study schedule and deadlines.

Deborah Peracchi, an executive MBA graduate from MIP Politecnico di Milano, says that the tight-knit nature of her cohort, and the positive support they gave each other throughout the program was one of the most important highlights of her EMBA experience. "We felt powerful, capable of reaching any goal, and in the end, this is what happened; we all got there."