Women and management education: has anything changed?

Abstract

This study investigates the experiences of women undertaking management related postgraduate programmes with a particular focus on whether and how these programmes accommodate their learning preferences and needs. It is intended that the findings will help to provide recommendations for improving curriculum design and pedagogy. As a number of issues have been raised previously with regard to women and management education, this study also set out to consider whether anything has changed since previous studies were published. Data was drawn from focus groups conducted in a NSW based graduate school of business and was analysed using a relational framework. Findings highlight the need for awareness raising with regard to gender equity amongst the mainly male academics employed in business schools, as well as the effectiveness of group learning for female students from a teaching, learning and management development perspective.