New Report Reveals Gender Gaps in Graduate Management Education Throughout the World

The Graduate Management Admission Council has release a new report detailing degree attainments of men and women in a large number of countries throughout the world. There are an estimated 15 million people aged 20 to 34cacross the world who are graduate management education master’s degree-holders. The 10 countries with the largest supply of GME master’s degree-holders within the student-age populations include China (Mainland), India, the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Bangladesh.

Globally, of the more than 61 million people assumed to have attained a master’s degree, approximately 24 percent have earned GME degrees. Worldwide, 44.8 percent of GME degrees are held by women within the student-aged population of 20 to 34 years old. Five countries showed greater than 60 percent female GME degree-holders, including: Colombia (65.6%), Dominican Republic (64.5%), Australia (63.4%), Djibouti (61.5%0, and Tunisia (60.1%).

In the United States, there are 3,282,085 women between the ages of 20 and 34 who hold master’s degrees compared to 2,845,136 men, according to the report. But men out number women in graduate management education master’s degrees by a margin of 814,662 to 602,404. Thus, men hold 57 percent of all  graduate degrees in management.

For all women in the 20-34 age groups in the Unted States, 33.7 percent held a bachelor’s degree, 10 percent held a master’s degree, and 1.8 percent held a graduate degree in management. For men in this age group, 30.3 percent had a bachelor’s degree, 8.4 percent held a master’s degree, and 2.4 percent held a graduate degree in management.

More than one third of men ages 20 to 34 who held a master’s degree earned their degree in business, administration or the law. For women, 22.4 percent of master’s degree holds had their degrees in business, administration or the law. This percentage point gap was the largest of any discipline surveyed including engineering

The full 194-page report, The Global Diversity of Talent – Attaintment and Representation, may be downloaded here.