The Fight for Female MBAs

In 2015, when Divinity Matovu was preparing to enter the full-time MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, she was caring for her 3-year-old daughter, grieving her mother’s death, and going through a divorce. “I was very concerned about whether I’d be able to pull this off and actually do the program,” she says. Her decision to proceed was influenced by women she met in prep programs, including one run by Forté Foundation, a consortium of companies and schools whose mission is to increase the share of women business leaders. Matovu says the mentor she was paired with through Forté’s 10-month MBALaunch program boosted her confidence and was “critical” to her success. After completing her degree last year, she took a job at Lyft Inc.’s San Francisco headquarters, overseeing driver community management.

MBALaunch is part of a larger effort to close the gender gap in B-schools and the workplace. The push has taken on greater urgency in the past year, as gender parity in MBA programs continues to elude schools, despite some improvements. Many are teaming with nonprofits such as Forté and the National Association of Women MBAs, holding networking events for women and offering scholarships. “The more women you have in classrooms, the more women who want to come to your business school,” says Forté Executive Director Elissa Sangster.