Gender equality and UN sustainable development goals: priorities and correlations in the top business schools’ communication and legitimation strategies

Abstract

Gender equality is still an issue in business schools, since women in MBAs classrooms, in faculty and in management teams have low representation. Challenges caused by lack of financial aids, salaries gap and a very masculine model avoid a better gender balance in the business graduate schools, which, globally, should lead women personal and professional development. The main objective of this research is to analyse business schools communication priorities related to gender equality projects and policies in their sustainability reports, considering these as a fundamental tool for corporate legitimacy. Through a content analysis of the sustainable reports of the top 50 business schools of the world, we elaborate a “Codes Frequency Report” focusing on “Goal 4: quality of education” (in relation with scholarships and grants allocation) and “Goal 5: gender equality” and we explore the correlations with the schools’ ranking positions, the price of the MBA programmes, the percentage of female MBA students, of female faculty members and women in board of directors in the different geographical areas as Europe, US and Asia. Results show that gender equality related topics are a source of positive impact and legitimacy for top business schools.