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"Few Gender Differences in a Recession "

By: Dana Mattioli, The Wall Street Journal

A recent survey by a nonprofit research group, Catalyst, showed no difference in employment for women or men with M.B.A.s during the recession. Catalyst surveyed 873 M.B.A.s who graduated between 1996 and 2006 from Asia, Canada, Europe and the U.S. Among men, 36% were promoted and 10% lost jobs; for women, 31% were promoted and 12% lost jobs. Those differences are not statistically significant. In a separate study, Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz found that there was little difference in career trajectories between men and women who received M.B.A.s between 1990 and 2006 outside of the fact that women tend to go on a different trajectory when they have children. In Europe, however, the Catalyst Europe AG study showed that women and men carrying M.B.A.s have experienced differences in promotion and job loss, but this disparity is attributed to ongoing issues in Europe including the challenge of recruitment, retention and the development of women. In addition, Catalyst’s study also showed that female executives fared less well than male executives with 19% of women classified as executives losing their jobs during the recession, compared to 6% of male executives.