BNET1’s Jessica Stillman uncovered an interesting tidbit from a UC Berkley paper which found that women MBAs were much more likely to drop out of the rat race in favor of child rearing than either women lawyers or medical doctors.
Says the abstract of “Opt-Out Patterns Across Careers: Labor Force Participation Rates Among Highly Educated Mothers:”
A surprising number of highly-educated MBAs are dropping out of the labor force. Haas Professor Catherine Wolfram found MBAs are more likely than MDs and JDs to be stay-at-home mothers. Wolfram studied surveys taken of nearly 1,000 Harvard undergraduate alumni and found 15 years after graduation, business school graduates are more likely than doctors and lawyers to leave the workforce.
My first response to this intelligence was, “Well, duh.” As hard as business school is, most programs are only two years long – or shorter – and don’t require any kind of ongoing professional certification after graduation. Becoming a lawyer in most cases requires at least three years of law school, plus passing the bar and staying certified. Becoming a medical doctor? Now that’s hard. Four years in medical school; three to eight years in residence, depending on the specialty; heaven knows how many tests and certifications and peer reviews.
On the surface, at least, it seems no wonder MBAs are more willing to throw off career for family than lawyers and doctors, given the apparent disparity of commitment and, to put it frankly, professional respect. I mean, there’s a reason why there are beaucoup hit legal dramas and medical shows on TV and very few shows about business and management that aren’t either comedies of error, such as The Office, or tragedies of business and personal ethics, à la Mad Men.
But is this fair? Surely MBAs are no less committed to good management than lawyers are to the good practice of law and doctors to upholding the Hippocratic Oath?
What do you think makes up for the disparity?
(Image by sean dreilinger via Flickr, CC 2.0.)
