This blog post is a continuation of my look at women and MBA degrees.  Part I looked at women who are currently in graduate school pursuing an MBA degree.  You can read the previous post here.

Did you know that women account for only about a third of graduate business students in the United States?  Why do you suppose men in the majority in MBA programs?  It isn’t because women are being rejected by the schools.  It’s because women aren’t applying to MBA programs at the same rate as men.

Given the fact that women are working outside the home in greater numbers than ever before, I was curious as to why more women weren’t seeking advanced business degrees.

I found an answer to that question in an article on cnnmoney.com by Anne Fisher.   Fisher interviewed Elissa Sangster of the Forte Foundation to find out why women are reluctant to pursue MBAs.  The Forte Foundation’s mission is to encourage women “to substantially increase the number of women business leaders by increasing the flow of women into key educational gateways and business networks.”   The Forte Foundation was launched in 2001 after a study by the University of Michigan and Catalyst found four main reasons that women were not seeking MBA degrees.  According to the article, these four reasons are still in play today.

• Concerns about being about to handle responsibilities of home and work if they returned to school
• Lack of female role models who have successfully managed this balancing act of home life, work, and school
• Questions about whether they had the advanced math skills and quantitative background to handle MBA coursework
• Little to no encouragement from employers to pursue an advanced degree

As I read this I couldn’t help but wonder if men have any of these same concerns. What do you think?