Although more women are enrolling in full-time MBA programs, the average rate of enrollment isn't increasing very quickly, according to Fortune magazine.
The average enrollment of women in full-time MBA programs at 36 business schools rose from 32 percent in 2011 to 36 percent in 2015, according toa report from Forté Foundation, a nonprofit consortium of companies, business schools and the Graduate Management Admissions Council, which analyzed enrollment figures from 36 schools that are Forté members.
Women accounted for at least 40 percent of students at 12 of the schools, including Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard Business School, New Haven, Conn.-based Yale School of Management, Hanover, N.H.-based Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
The modest increase of less than 1 percent per year, especially as women have been outpacing men in overall degree attainment in recent years, shows room for significant improvement.
However, it is important to recognize the progress in women's growing presence in MBA programs, according to Elissa Sangster, executive director of Forté.
"I think we're going to continue to see the schools who have achieved 40 percent head toward 50 percent, and I think a line has been drawn in the sand," Ms. Sangster told Fortune. "Other schools are looking at how they can get to 40 percent as well because they want to be a part of that story. I do think it's a positive trend."