As students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) walk up to the stage at Louis Kahn Plaza to receive their degree certificates today, Fellow Programme in Management 2018 batch will set an example of gender equity and equality. In the 2018 batch, ratio of female: male graduates has increased to 50:50 against 25:75 in year 2017 and less than 10% women in 2016. According to officials at IIMA, this increase number of students in doctoral study indicates the shift towards creating equal spaces towards progress for both women and men. 

Prof Amit Garg, Chairperson, FPM, IIMA said, “The increasing gender balance in the graduating class indicates women are rising much faster than men in acquiring high levels of specialisation in management education at IIMA”. Biswajita Parida, FPM (Marketing) student said, “The role of gender diversity cannot be emphasised more in the educational institutes aspiring to produce world class research output. Research indicates that significant differences exist between male and female brains in terms of information processing, learning, dealing with emotions, perception, memory and multi-tasking abilities. Therefore male and female minds need to equally participate and brainstorm together to bring about wholesome yield which have implications for the mass,” she said.

The first student of IIMA’s doctoral programme graduated in 1974 and since then 349 doctoral students have been conferred with the title ‘Fellow of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (FPM)’. PKV Kishan, FPM (Economics) student said, “It is about balance and realisation of true potential. A balanced ratio of both enrolments and graduates go a long way in improving the intrinsic value-add to each gender.”