WHAT BECOMES OF A WOMAN after she graduates from the GSB? How
does her career evolve? Where does family fit in? How can Chicago
better serve future female students? In a search for answers to
these questions, Ron Burt, Hobart W. Williams Professor of Sociology
and Strategy, and colleagues at the GSB surveyed 4,773 alumnae
who received M.B.A.'s from Chicago.
More than eight hundred women responded, providing details about
their personal and professional lives, their views on success,
and advice to women entering the GSB on how to make the most of
the experience.
Tracing the respondents’ career paths from graduation, Burt reports
that three-fourths of the women have always worked for a company
other than their own, mostly in the banking industry (21 percent),
management consulting (11 percent), and other business services
such as accounting (9 percent). Alumnae also are represented in
the medical services, educational services, food, and pharmaceutical
industries (at least 5 percent in each category).
A self-reliant 6 percent chose self-employment upon graduation
and another 20 percent were company employees before launching
their own businesses. A total of 12 percent remains self-employed.
While women employed in a corporate senior position (22 percent)
make the most money (half make $300,000 or more annually), those
who chose self-employment have cornered the market on professional
happiness, reporting the highest percentage (30 percent) of complete
job satisfaction. While the majority of respondents are married
(68 percent), slightly less than half of the alumnae (49 percent)
have had children. Roughly 7 percent are currently divorced or
separated, and 24 percent have always been single.
Are they as successful as they would like to be? While Burt noted,
“There are almost as many definitions of success as there are
alumnae,” common patterns emerged. Nearly all the respondents
(98.5 percent) rated personal happiness as very important to success,
while only 20 percent included “winning the game” in their definition.
On the flip side, themes emerged regarding barriers to success,
with exclusion from informal networks ranking high among self-employed
alumnae and respondents in senior management positions.
When it comes to the corporate world, Burt’s research shows that
the more contacts a woman has and the more varied those contacts,
the more likely she is to get promoted faster, earn higher compensation,
receive better performance evaluations, and perform more successfully
on teams than a counterpart with fewer contacts.
Although they admit that as students they were not always aware
of the value of networking, alumnae now stress its importance.
Respondents offering advice to women entering the GSB emphasized
the value of building relations with other students for better
learning and preparation for life after graduation. “Make contacts.
Keep them,” was one respondent’s succinct advice. “The relationships
you develop will actually be as, if not more, important than the
course work,” counseled another. “Don’t study only the subject
matter,” said another alumna. “Study the professors and fellow
students; they have a lot to offer.”
As Burt and his colleagues continue to study the data, reports
on specific topics will be issued and posted on the Web at gsbwww. uchicago.edu/fac/ronald.burt/research. This site also includes the survey and a summary of responses.
The survey, as well as the topic of women and business in general,
will be the focus of a panel at the Management Conference on June
4.
“The Graduate School of Business Alumnae Survey: Contacts, Career,
and Family,” the first survey of its kind, was prompted by the
University of Chicago Women’s Business Group. The survey was conducted
by Burt with assistant professors Damon Phillips, Jesper Sørensen,
Olav Sorenson, and Toby Stuart and director of alumni affairs
and major events Danielle Palmer, ’92. The project was funded
by the GSB, the Chicago Management Council, and the Kauffman Foundation.–C.N.
Respondents at a Glance
Average age: 41
Mean annual personal income: $175,476
Annual family income over $150,000: 58%
Annual family income over $300,000: 25%
Annual family income over $1,000,000: 6%
Married: 68%
Never married: 24%
Currently divorced or separated: 7%
Have ever been divorced or separated: 18%
Widowed: 1%
Have children: 49%
Have children under 18: 43%
Have continuously worked full time since graduation: 47%
Have worked less than full time in any given year due to child
care/childbirth: 31%
Have worked less than full time in any given year to start own
business: 11%
Have earned any income from self-employment: 26%
Marriage, divorce, or birth of child coincided with entering self-employment:
45%
Women in the GSB
Of the nearly six thousand women who have received degrees from the GSB, half have graduated in the past ten years. In the 1950s, one in ten students were women; over the past twenty years, the ratio has increased to one in four.–C.N.