Only 10% of IIM students are female: Survey

Even though more and more graduates are opting for managerial services, it is still a male-dominated domain.

Only 10 per cent of the total strength in the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are female and the percentage in the corporate world is even less, found a survey by Career Launcher, one of India's largest CAT coaching centres.

The survey involving over 12,500 students across 40 cities, further found that one in three takers of CAT in Delhi is a female and that the ratio countrywide is even lower.

"This reveals the gaps that need to be filled to bring in management education reforms in the country," said Arindam Lahiri, director, Academics, Career Launcher.

According to Archana Shukla, professor, IIM-Lucknow, disproportionate ratio of male and female in IIMs is not an outcome of any policy or intent but a matter of design.

"It is a known fact that candidates with stronger quantitative background make it to the IIMs. Within that the lower percentage of female is a matter of design. Not many of them who have opted for humanities find it easy to crack CAT," Shukla added.

Nearly 230,000 candidates took CAT this year, competing for a total of 5,000 seats as against around 190,000 candidates last year. The increasing numbers are indicative of the importance of CAT as the premier management entrance exam as well as the growing economy, which has seen an explosion in the creation of managerial jobs.

On the composition of candidates taking CAT, the survey further states that contrary to the popular notion number of science graduates taking CAT is increasing.

"Till about three years back, CAT candidates largely comprised engineering and commerce graduates, about 60 per cent," Lahiri added.

However, this year about 25 per cent of the candidates who took CAT were science graduates, the survey states.

"There could be two possible reasons for this. Firstly, with government job opportunities drying up more and more students are moving towards managerial jobs in the private sector. Also, with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) putting a ban on more than two attempts for taking IIT-JEE (entrance examination for IITs), more students are preferring to graduate in science and take up an MBA degree later," Lahiri explains.