In a country like India, where gender bias and sexual discrimination can be found in rampage, it will be quite a sight to see higher education institutes like IIMs having equal or fair ratio of male and female students. Every year, with few number of female students gracing the seats and obliging the vast number of male students by providing a better sight to look at, it has been a common notion that women cannot make better managers, hence their absence in the B School classrooms.

Data shows that this year, IIM Ahmedabad has admitted only 11 per cent of female students. Conventionally, there are 10 to 15 per cent female students in a batch of approximately 350 students. With the intake of 30 per cent female students in IIM Kozhikode this year, the question has again tickled MBAUniverse.com that do women make better managers? To spread the question among our readers, the past week’s question in ‘Have your say’ was ‘In a first, IIM K admits 30 per cent female candidates. Do women make better managers?’ The readers have given their say.

Around 60 per cent of the readers have disagreed to the fact that women make better managers and 35 per cent readers do feel that women make better managers. Many of our readers have felt that IIM Kozhikode is imposing yet another reservation for admitting more female students. “Another reservation by IIMs? Well looks like the existing were not good enough to dissuade. While the quotas for select groups are increased, will suggest increasing the overall intake as well,” comments a reader on the poll topic.

But is it really acceptable to believe the fact that women do not make better managers while we have some of the finest female managers such as Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo; Vinita Bali, MD, Britannia; Chanda Kochhar, MD, ICICI Bank and Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO, Axis Bank to name a few. But again, the debate is, these are only a handful of names. “Hey you see the names there... I knew they are coming. A handful. And what about the millions of men doing amazingly great work? Cannot be compared according to statistics, men are far ahead,” says Rituj, a poll participant.

The argument is that the female managers are mostly overpowered by an emotion which is not healthy for an organization’s growth. “Girls tend to be too emotional about everything. They tend to take things personally which is not good for the company,” says another reader.  
 
While this battle of genders will never cease, the debate will go on. In such questions, it is better not to conclude anything, but see the positive sides of the management skills of both. After all, it is not a man or a woman who manage a company, but the management skills that run an organization.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on polls!