Inclusion and diversity in business has been often spoken about and leading global corporations have also been taking initiatives towards making it happen at their workplaces. There have been initiatives that try and bring in diversity and balanced representation in leadership as well as at board level. Still, a lot more needs to be done.
Academic establishments are also coming up with researches to ideate the possibilities related to diversity and inclusion, with a special focus on women at workplace. Rutgers Business School is setting up a Center for Women in Business that will attempt to combine the power of academic research and the resources of a committed alumni network to make an impact on gender equity in the business world. The center will work towards influencing change on problems such as the gender wage gap while also providing opportunities to empower working women and to develop women business leaders at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
As per Lisa Kaplowitz, a professor of professional practice in finance and the center’s Founding Director, “Study after study has demonstrated that women are not equally compensated or represented at any level of business,” she added – “We are really excited about the prospect of combining the talent of our alumni, faculty and students to remove barriers and empower women to lead in a continuously evolving workforce.”
The new center will build on the existing efforts and organizations at Rutgers Business School and Rutgers University to touch more women, both students and alumnae, in bigger and bolder ways through mentoring, workshops, scholarships and conferences.
The university has earlier started an undergraduate program called Women BUILD (Business Undergraduates in Leadership Development) five years ago, has seen the transformative power of the program to build skills and confidence in groups of young women who support one another and are cultivated by a larger community of professional women.
The center will look at some of these research themes – how participation in youth sports influences women’s risk-taking and perseverance, how non-conscious biases lead to same gender favoritism in the workplace, the critical role of male mentors in women’s business success, among others.
Jasmine, an M.A (English) from Miranda House (Univ. of Delhi), is a freelance writer. She is Founder & Chief Word Crafter at word-craft.in, a content services venture offering content development and translation services. She has earlier worked with NIIT, Rupa publications, and PTI in areas of Instructional Design, Editing, and Journalism.