▼ Tips for advancement from three women deans

● These women in top leadership positions talk about their career paths and offer lessons for others

The gap between women and men in leadership roles at US business schools has been shrinking, especially as more women are promoted to positions that are steppingstones to deanships. In 2023-24 women deans at 368 US business schools represented 30% of the total, according to research by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. That’s an increase from 17% in 2007-08. What’s more, the AACSB found, women now account for 43% of associate business school deans, a position that often leads to a deanship; 34% currently in that role were once associate B-school deans.

Women still lag men considerably when it comes to deanships. The vast majority of women who are deans now have spent most of their careers underrepresented as faculty members and in leadership positions, says Sharon Matusik, dean of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

One reason for the scarcity is that women have had more difficulty gaining tenure and full professorships at B-schools, which are often prerequisites for the top job, Matusik says. Women make up 40.3% of tenure-track faculty at business schools globally, “but that’s where the progression stalls,” according to a 2022-23 AACSB survey. Only 25.7% are full professors, the survey found.

We asked three women deans to describe their paths and share what experiences they think can help others advance to the top. They’ve run programs at large and smaller schools and in locations throughout the US. Their remarks have been edited for clarity and length.