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Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] Date: 11 January 2016, At: 19:42
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Integrating Gender Equality Into Business and
Management Education
James L. Morrison
To cite this article: James L. Morrison (2015) Integrating Gender Equality Into Business and Management Education, Journal of Education for Business, 90:7, 410-412, DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2015.1081867
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2015.1081867
Published online: 18 Sep 2015.
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Book Review
Flynn, Patricia, Kathryn Haynes, and Maureen Kilgour (Eds.).Integrating Gender Equality Into Business and Man-agement Education. Sheffield, England: Greenleaf. (2015). 420 pp. ISBN: 978-1-78353-225-4 (hardback). $90.00
CONFRONTING GENDER INEQUALITY IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
This text is an edited collection that addresses the need to integrate gender equality through more diverse educational materials along with more inclusive teaching methods into business education. To the editors, gender inequality is an issue that continues to be understudied as a topic of impor-tance in both the workplace and in business programs at universities around the globe. This text provides a rationale as to why business educators should enhance learning opportunities for our students whereby faculty integrate instructional materials and resources that will assist in mak-ing our students more aware of the implications of this social injustice. Moreover, the primary objective of the edited collection is to motivate faculty to integrate the topic of gender equality into their own teaching, thus legitimizing it as an important core value, particularly in business pro-grams. This movement could act as a precursor to opening up opportunities for women to progress toward leadership roles within large, mid-size and small businesses as their careers advance.
The book is a collaborative effort from authors situated in 12 countries across four continents. Their research and personal reflection provide not only inspiration but a variety of instructional tools to prepare future leaders in the quest for gender equality in the workplace. The content of the text is reflective of the Women’s Empowerment Principles that were the outcome of a collaborative effort between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empow-erment of Women and the United Nations Global Compact conducted in 2009–2010. Their purpose was to promote corporate action urging business executives to become major players in educating, training, and developing women for enhancing their capacity to achieve gender equality in the workplace. This text is a outcome of that effort to advance a private sector initiative for promoting gender equality worldwide.
The text consists of contributions from 38 faculty from around the world whose work was compiled into 22 chap-ters divided into five sections. Part I focuses on identifying the gender equality challenges confronting business educa-tion faculty in universities around the globe. In Chapter 1, an historical perspective reflecting the exclusion of gender inequality as a legitimate topic of study within the business curriculum is documented. Pointed out in Chapter 2 are numerous examples of notable gender gaps in student enrollment, faculty mentoring, and administrative leader-ship. As an example, it is noted that there is a lack of female role models in business schools and also a corresponding lack of opportunity for students to work with women pro-fessors. It is proposed that a more inclusive gender climate in business administration programs would be helpful in preparing both male and female students to learn how to generate more effective working relationships upon gradua-tion. The issue of business sustainability is analyzed in Chapter 3, noting the absence of attention to gender equal-ity as a missed opportunequal-ity for moving forward toward more egalitarian business models. Documented in this chapter is the finding that there is a strong link between sus-tainable development and gender equality. Finally, organi-zational justice is delineated in Chapter 4 as exemplified by a need for university administrators to create a psychologi-cally safe learning environment that enables faculty to bet-ter exemplify the principles of fairness and equity in their instructional approaches. Therefore, the editors of the text use Part I to point out an historical narrow mindset among faculty and administrators of business programs that has resulted in those at the university level minimally address-ing gender issues in their programs.
The contributors to Part II of the text provide some insight as to how the persistence of gender inequality has permeated into marketing, finance, and executive educa-tion, among others, in the past decades. For example, In Chapter 5, it is stated that gender equality has been widely neglected in the discipline of marketing. In this regard, the field of marketing is viewed as being responsible for pro-ducing gender stereotypes that are harmful to women—and this must change. Biases in executive education programs are then discussed in Chapter 6 as the challenge of changing the mindset of business leaders is addressed. To the authors, closing the gaps in skill, confidencem, and identity between men and women is an achievable goal that must be pursued.
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 90: 410–412, 2015 CopyrightÓTaylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2015.1081867
In Chapter 7, the inequities in regard to the roles and posi-tions of women in the legal profession are delineated. It is indicated that while women are reaching some degree of parity in terms of numbers working in the legal profession, gender gaps remain as to how legal education is delivered. To the contributors, broadening the scope of legal educa-tion by integrating gender perspectives into legal prepara-tory programs must become a priority. The context then moves to a discussion of organizational behavior textbooks in business and the bias toward depicting male leaders as exemplary role models in Chapter 8. Ensuring that text-books and instructional materials utilized in class are inclu-sive rather than excluinclu-sive is the issue raised in this concluding chapter to Part II.
In Part III, a variety of interventions designed to address gender inequality are presented. An intriguing intervention focusing on enhancing social interaction among students for reducing gender stereotyping in particular is proposed in Chapter 9. Using a case study relating to teaching practi-ces at Bentley University in Chapter 10, a propracti-cess for changing instructional strategies and corresponding resour-ces, examples, and practices is presented. The focus is the promoting of gender equality as a core business value rather than a peripheral concept to the business discipline. It is proposed that institutions of higher learning need to lead the charge for bringing about a sustainable change in the way we prepare future business leaders. Referencing one of Europe’s larger universities, diversity-based teaching is illustrated in Chapter 11 as a framework for moving from a traditional educational posture whereby gender inequality is ignored to a more exploratory learning process whereby students actively engage one another by reflecting empathy, understanding, and design thinking that result in a realiza-tion that social justice in the workplace is important. In Chapter 12, the inclusion of gender equality as a core con-cept in the business curriculum is again illustrated through a management education program at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
In Part IV of the text, instructional proposals to address gender inequality within business curriculum from an inter-national perspective are presented. For example, in Chapter 13, general inequality in master of business administration (MBA) programs in Latin American countries is illustrated along with a strategy proposed for overcoming gender dis-parities. Flexibility in course scheduling and program modality are offered as alternatives for addressing the needs of female students. The differences between salaries and positions assumed by female and male graduates of man-agement programs in France are delineated in Chapter 14. It is argued here that having students address issues of unfairness in the workplace during their learning will result in socially responsible behaviors among graduates of busi-ness programs, resulting in more sensitivity toward gender equality in the workplace. In Chapter 15, a comparison is made between gender inequality in schools of business in
India and the United States. It is stated that both countries have been slow in generating an inclusive culture and thus need to become more active key players in changing the educational cultural within which their students learn the fundamentals of business. Using the Doshisha Business School in Kyoto as an example in Chapter 16, the develop-ing of internal and external networks that enhance an inter-action between male and female students is illustrated as an example of a learning process for generating gender equal-ity in business education.
Part V of the text includes a series of chapters that focus on additional examples of instructional practices, which might be adopted for bringing about more gender equitable approaches to the learning process. In Chapter 17, a Gender Equality Index is introduced as a tool for integrating gender equality into management education. Also, considerable discussion of what is referred to as reflective role-playing is presented as an alternate tool for engaging students in real-life work issues. Addressed in Chapter 18 is the need to change drastically the traditional top-down paternal process for administering business programs in educational institu-tions around the world. More nurturing roles among female faculty in particular can counter the traditional male-domi-nated academic approaches to learning of the past. In Chap-ter 19, an MBA course, Women in Organizations, is used as an example of how to design an inclusive learning envi-ronment that advances gender equality. While considered extreme by some business faculty, the proposal here is to create an elective course as one alternative for elevating gender equality as a topic of significance. Such a course can provide opportunities for females to voice their per-spectives, to become more self-aware of their strengths, and to build confidence in their ability to engage others on important social justice issues. Engaging students in learn-ing activities that reflect realities in the workplace is delin-eated in Chapter 20. Kolb’s Learning Theory is adopted for promoting an experiential approach via exercises and assignments that reflect the actualities of the workplace. An intriguing underlying issue to teaching about gender inequality depicted in Chapter 21 is whether it is perhaps unethical not to do so. Because the business programs gen-erally embody business ethics as a core value, the challenge to faculty presented here is confirm their own ethical values by attending to gender equality within their teaching meth-odology. In the final chapter of the text, an unorthodox teaching approach is described that reflects an all-women elective graduate course. This is an experiential course that uses mountain climbing as an example of why it is impor-tant for women to not only trust one another but to support and respect each other as networks and relationships are developed for getting tasks done.
The text is an intriguing effort to address the need to integrate gender equality into business education at the postsecondary level. The target audiences of the text are faculty and administrators at both the graduate and
BOOK REVIEW 411
undergraduate level who can become key players in a tran-sition to a more equitable learning process. There are many examples of initiatives illustrating how this movement to gender equality can evolve. The promotion of gender equal-ity is documented through research, practice experiences, and creative thought which energizes the reader to take action. A number of case studies and resource materials are helpful in supporting an effort by faculty to modify current teaching approaches for courses in marketing, management, organizational behavior, and leadership. The book makes a convincing argument for advancing gender equality as a core value to business education. One topic that is barely noted in the textbook is how technology may likely change the educational landscape around the world and also how the workplace is structured. In regard to education, with both undergraduate and graduate programs going online, greater direct access to business faculty and instructional materials is likely to change how people learn. For exam-ple, learning through personal experiences, a version of experiential learning, is likely to become more prevalent. Delivering direct or lecture-type instruction by business faculty is likely to disappear. Thus technology is likely to open up a new mind frame on when, where, and how people learn. The opportunity for gender equality is likely to
advance in a different format through reflection, self-analysis, and self-development. These are the skills that perhaps need to be elevated. Moreover, enhancing incen-tives on the part of university administrators to promote more accessible ways to learn using the potential of the dig-ital classroom would send a signal that responsible manage-ment education is a reality rather than a dream.
In summary, the text provides a fairly well researched rationale as to why it is important to address issues of gender inequality in business education at the post-secondary level. The purpose here is to have the text play a catalytic role for promoting gender equality not only at educational institutions, but in the work-place. Much of what is promoted in the text reflects the objectives of the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRIME) Gender Equality Work Group, which was a United Nation’s initiative. For those inter-ested in becoming a key player at their institution for expanding opportunities for women to achieve leader-ship roles in business, the text is a must read!
James L. Morrison
University of Delaware Newark, Delaware, USA
412 BOOK REVIEW
