Who is an EMBA for? Part four: The working mom

In the final part of this four-part series on “Who is an EMBA for”, QS TopExecutive takes a look at how an Executive MBA can benefit the working mom.

Author Fannie Hurst once famously quipped: “For a woman to succeed in business she has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far.” Hurst made this observation in the early 20^th Century but fortunately things have come a long way since then.

Women can be found in many a high profile position around the world, whether it be in politics, charity work, education or the corporate sphere. Pay gaps have shrunk, women are entrepreneurs and the infamous glass ceiling is becoming less and less prevalent in many businesses and organizations.

Furthermore, women are also holding their own in the world of business education, with business schools around the globe welcoming female candidates onto their Executive MBA programs.

EMBAs for moms

The Executive MBA is, without doubt, a rigorous and time consuming challenge to take on. Alumni recall instances of pulling all nighters to finish projects, being intellectually challenged by faculty and peers as they’ve never been before, and being taken out of their comfort zone by the requirements of the degree. Throw into the mix, juggling family commitments alongside both work and study and the EMBA may seem a tall task for many working mothers.

However, the EMBA is also a degree of choice for many of these female candidates as it allows them to continue working while studying, thus not requiring any additional time-out from their career path after maternity leave or any additional leaves of absence due to parenthood.

It’s also a great way for working mothers to overcome any limitations they might experience in their present careers and demonstrate to current and future employers a high level of ambition, dedication and focus toward achieving one’s full potential. What’s more, an EMBA can offer a much needed new challenge once children are a little older.

When the timing’s right

Choosing the right time to embark on an Executive MBA is important for all candidates, but particularly so for the working mom. Juggling multiple roles of parent, employee and student, among others, requires impeccable time management and, perhaps more importantly, a strong support network. Many women who have decided to study an Executive MBA do so either when the children are quite young or when they’re older and more self-sufficient. At any stage, however, the support network at hand determines the success or failure of the EMBA endeavor. In short, a working mom should consider an EMBA only when she has the opportunity and ability to delegate a share of both her professional and personal responsibilities.

School support for moms

The choice of program and institution can also make a tremendous difference in how easy or hard it is to complete an EMBA program while working and providing parental care. Programs with maximom flexibility tend to be the most viable option for working moms. Many business schools today are positioning themselves as ‘family friendly’. Some offer housing where family members can stay for class weekends while others provide services such as childcare or support groups to bring working moms together. The University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business offers several ‘lactation rooms’ for women, complete with sinks, breast pumps and refrigerators to make student moms’ lives easier. Others have specific support groups for mothers in place, such as the Chicago Booth School of Business’ ‘Mothers at Booth’ group, offering assistance and resources through an established network.

Benefits for moms

While it is no easy feat, the benefits an EMBA program can bestow on the working mom are significant. Aside from the reputation this prestigious degree brings, it also demonstrates an individual’s ability to juggle multiple demands simultaneously. While this is true for any EMBA student, it is even more so for the working mom as it highlights to employers that in addition to the hard and soft skills acquired during the degree, the working EMBA mom has substantial amounts of discipline and tenacity to be able to accomplish the triple feat of being mother, student and employer successfully.