How Business Schools Can Help Close the Gender Gap

Elevating the quantitative performance of women in business school can help increase the representation of talented women in finance, consulting, consumer technology, which are also typically more lucrative. To do this, female instructors are key. While women’s grades in quantitative courses are 11% of a standard deviation lower than that of men on average, when they are taught by female instructors, their performance improves by 7.7%. The authors found that female instructors increased female students’ interest and performance expectations in quantitative courses and are viewed as role models by female students. When women perform higher in “quant” courses, it results in more gender-healthy pipelines for senior management positions.