Classrooms and Class actions

Our colleague Troy at the Graduate School of Business has sent through a couple of really interesting stories that we thought were worth sharing. Thanks Troy!

Why business schools are failing women
Forbes.com has an interesting article on why business schools are failing women. We wrote about the Catalyst report in our first blog which had looked the value or lack of value for women in gaining an MBA when compared to their male counterparts. The Forbes.com article by Selena Rezvani and Sandie Taylor looks at the underrepresentation of women in MBA programs (around 30% in the US) and the lack of action taken by business schools to address this issue. As they point out, having a few women featured on promotional posters isn’t enough to change recruitment practices or to necessarily encourage women to undertake further study when the rewards for doing so can be substantially less than their male counterparts. They also argue for the need for gender specific leadership training to address many of the issues that women will face both in their course and in the business world.

Sex Discrimination – Class action
The second article that captured our attention was the sex discrimination case against the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The Novartis class action covers 5600 women employed at Novartis. The claims included that the women were:
- being promoted less often,
- being encouraged by their male managers not to get pregnant, and
- earning less.
Also included in the case was exposure to:
- gender hostility,
- a hostile work environment, and
- sexual harassment and retaliation.

There are also allegations of sexual assault, being exposed to pornography in the workplace and lack of action by HR staff when complaints were made by the women. This is pretty amazing given the company had been listed regularly by Working Women Magazine as one of the best places for women to work.

I think the Novartis case raises some very interesting issues. Organisations can and do have great policies in place and can be recognised as great places for women to work. Yet there can be a major disconnect between the policies and the practice. This maybe only in parts of the organisation but that is enough particularly when it means that it creates an unsafe working environment. Much more needs to be done to make sure that the practice throughout organisations mirrors good policy and that when complaints are made they are dealt with effectively regardless of who the complaint is against!

Another American class action lawsuit, this time against Walmart – the largest lawsuit in US history - is also getting some attention. The case was first lodged in 2001 by one woman employee Betty Dukes and the recent court decision means that more than a million current and former Walmart employees can be considered together in the claims of discrimination against women (less pay, fewer promotions, gender stereotyping and discrimination). Regardless of the final outcome of the case its an amazing story of one woman’s courage and what can happen when women work together to bring about change. You can read more at about this case here.

If you have stories that you would like to share with us - please leave a comment or drop us a line by e-mail.