New UW-Whitewater Business Institute Strives to Promote Gender Equity; Change the Workplace.
November 08, 2023
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business and Economics (CoBE) has added a new Business Institute to its already impressive repertoire of opportunities: the Women In Business Institute or ‘WIBI.’
Dr. Rashiqa Kamal, associate professor of finance and the institute’s director, enthusiastically welcomes the new addition: “There is a disproportionate lesser number of female students in many business disciplines. In my core finance courses, I may have three or four female students in a class of 40. In fact, only 33% of CoBE students identified as female in the 2022-2023 academic year whereas 50% of the campus enrollment is female. This really bothered me. We need to change how women perceive business.”
Gender inequality remains an issue in America’s workplace.
- In America, women earn only 82 cents on the dollar compared to their male colleagues. This equates into a 6+ day workweek compared to his 5-day week to earn the same pay.
- In today’s Fortune 500, only 21% of c-suite executives are women (chief executive officers, chief financial officers, etc.)
- When offered a first job, only 7% of women attempt to negotiate a higher salary compared to 57% of men.
“There is opportunity for improvement both in how America conducts business and in how women feel about the career path” said Dr. Kamal. She continues: “In 2016 with the help of other faculty and staff, we organized CoBE’s first Women in Business Day. The day brings area high school students to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus, into the business college, to learn about opportunities and different majors that are out there. The goal is to try to get women excited about the idea of business earlier.”
The annual program was gaining strength until the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the Women in Business day went on break. It returned in 2022 and this October the 7th Women in Business Day attracted 120 students from ten area high schools. Said Dr. Kamal: ‘The Women in Business day is a great first step, but there was more that needed to be done. That was when Dean Paul Ambrose suggested creating the Women in Business Institute (WIBI) to support current college students in addition to the prospective students. And thus WIBI at CoBE was born.”
The Women in Business Institute aims to support current female students in their pursuit of business education, help all business students understand the importance of change in the workplace, and seeks to enlist community and alumni involvement. The goal is to create a more vibrant, inclusive workplace where all belong. Anyone is welcome to participate and support the institute regardless of age, major or gender.
One of the first events with this new institute is the WIBI Speed Networking Event being held on November 8th. This event is structured to bring in alumni or local community members in the business realm as mentors for current students who are interested in having a mentorship connection.
At the event, each mentor will have a table and registered students will have a few minutes to talk to each mentor before moving on to the next. After the event, each mentor will be paired with one or more mentees based upon mutual feedback. These mentors will be a resource for students to go to with questions, concerns, or advice about current events or their future careers.
Interested in learning how you can get involved in the Women in Business Institute? Click here for more information or reach out to the director, Rashiqa Kamal, kamalr@uww.edu
More on WIBI: Women in Business Institute (WIBI) The mission of WIBI within the College of Business and Economics is to create a supportive and empowering environment for women and to promote greater gender equity and inclusion in the business world. The center is engaged with aiding high school students interested in business, providing current students a voice to achieve gender equality in the workplace, and connecting with the business community to create an environment of belonging for all
More on CoBE: Wisconsin’s largest business college. It is home to the #1 ranked online Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program in the State, of single schools, and is the only college in Wisconsin that offers an AACSB-accredited Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) degree program. It has 7 unique departments that house a variety of majors, emphasis, and certificates. CoBE is in the top 2% of the world’s business schools having earned both AACSB and AACSB Accounting Accreditation. For more information on the College of Business and Economics, visit uww.edu/cobe or email cobe@uww.edu.