ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
Marion Debruyne “When you are asked what are the unique challenges you have faced as a female dean, you’re suddenly confronted with these questions about what your gender means in the role. As an academic, it made me interested in reading tons of articles, research and books on gender; I also asked expert members of our faculty to send me any relevant research because I wanted to understand it better. This has made me think about our hiring practices and how we educate our students to operate in an inclusive environment. It has all become a greater part of what I reflect on and bring to the table in managing the school compared to when I started out in my career.” What initiatives have you implemented to address gender disparities within business education and what advice would you have for other institutions looking to do the same? Barbara Stöttinger “In terms of faculty, I’m really grateful for accreditation bodies like AMBA who come in and monitor faculty diversity because that gives me every reason to push for more diversity, particularly for female faculty. I think it’s very important for accreditation bodies to look at diversity measures so that we keep progressing in this respect. “One approach that I’ve been using is that whenever female faculty are hired at the academy, I reach out to them once they have settled in and have a one-to-one conversation. This will explore different opportunities for how they can engage in executive education and explain [our goal of having] equal numbers of female and male faculty in the pool at the very least. “We also do peer coaching. When we talk about leadership situations, this is where you can have the most immediate impact on male leaders, when you are in the classroom and peers are sharing challenging leadership scenarios. If you’re a female leader, [it’s a chance to] talk about challenges with male colleagues who you have established a strong rapport with over the course of your learning journey. This has substantially changed the perspective of male students in how they deal with leadership situations.” Wendy Loretto “I’ve been a dean for eight years. I had a female deputy and director of faculty for a while, plus for a period of three years the dean of research was also female. Now I’m handing over to a male and it just so happens that the person coming in as deputy is another male – and the director of research position has been filled by a male too. I think that’s great because at other times women get the roles and men do the research – it’s about that balance. “I agree with what’s been said about us being deans first and foremost. But I still think a large number of female deans are probably juggling more [than male colleagues]. It may not be balancing work and life: it may be dealing with work, their deanship and trying to keep their research career going.
menopause and many women become deans at an age where they’re either going through perimenopause or full menopause. I’ve been able to utilise that to open up conversations so people will talk about it more, not just at the business school but within the university more widely. The conversations that are happening in the UK and France in particular are going to be a good thing for women in all kinds of senior positions.” Cathy Cassell “Part of doing the best we can is setting boundaries so that you can look after yourself. I’m very clear in my work/life boundaries in terms of my working hours. I rarely work on the weekends and I don’t work during my holidays. That suits me, it might not do so for other people, but I think it’s really important to think about resilience. How you develop this quality, how you protect yourself and how you look after yourself so that you can be a great dean and have the attention and passion [necessary to do] your job.”
Ambition | MAY 2024 | 17
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