Less women in B-schools: Kochhar blames focus on QA in tests

ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar today blamed excessive focus on quantitative aptitude QA in entrance tests for lower representation of girls in business schools and stressed on need for the exams to be all roundedThe MBA entrance exams are so quantitativeoriented that it keeps out more and more women from joining the MBA classes If we were to make the entrance exams more allrounded you could see more participation Kochhar the managing director and chief executive of the countrys largest private sector lender said in a speechKochhar who herself went to a bschool before joining the bank said girls constitute only 1015 per cent of the bschool students at present She also questioned need for so much focus on QA saying a course on developing general managerial abilities does not require so much of focusIf there is a course that is quantoriented you need to focus on that but if it is a course that is more general management orineted do you not need entrance examinations which are more all round she saidA majority of reputed institutes holding MBA tests focus on QA data interpretation logical reasoning and verbal ability while selecting students QA includes topics considered tedious like trignometry quadratic equations logarithm etcKochhar also stressed on the need to make workplaces more diverse saying a business can deliver better results with more percentage of women Also with half of the consumers being women there is a need for businesses to have more women to understand the consumer better she saidOn representation of women she said that we have come a long way in her 30 years in corporate world and added that today womenheaded banks account for 35 per cent of the overall assets in the systemShe also rued that over 80 per cent of workforceready women are not joining the organised sector and exhorted womento believe in themselves and be ready to put in long hours and travel if the work demandsKochhar however sought to underplay the impact of careers on personal lives saying women can maintain worklife balance even while pursuing their careersFlagging the fledgling ecommerce sector as an area of opportunities she said there are opportunities of cottageentrepreneurship like madetoorder meals handicrafts etc which women can capitalise onTo address the difficulty around safety and security Kochhar said the bank has created a mobile application inhouse which also has a panic buttonThe application was being used for employees itself and Kochhar today announced that it will be made available for all the companies in the country for the safety of their women employees