Celebrating 50 years of gender mixity at HEC

The year 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of the school's entrance examination to women. To mark this 50th anniversary, 50 female graduates - role models from all horizons - were honored. While this celebration of gender diversity culminated in a festive reception on November 29, it is also a daily reality at HEC Paris, with the collective commitment of its entire community, in the recruitment of female professors, entrepreneurial programs such as Stand Up, and the creation of new scholarships for female MBA candidates.

^{Auteur/Author of this article: Frédéric Voirin}

27 ! That's how many women there were in HEC Paris' very first coeducational class of 255 students. Some of them, present for the anniversary and representing the 9% of women in the class of 1973, rose to their feet and were warmly applauded by the hundreds of guests gathered in Paris that evening. Women now account for 32% of the 73,000 alumni of HEC Paris.  

This long-standing commitment to gender equality began in 1916, when HEC Jeunes Filles launched the first business school for women, and continues to this day throughout the HEC community.

1973-2023 : 50 years of commitment to gender equality at HEC Paris

This anniversary ceremony looked back over 50 years of the school's official commitment to women's issues, and retraced some of the great achievements of HEC graduates. Highlights included the official creation of the HEC au féminin club by Jean-Luc Allavena (H.86) in the 1980s, the appointment of Edith Cresson (H.54) as France's first female Prime Minister (in 1991), support for the emergence of the Women's Forum and the promotion of 50 female role models by 2023.

A non-exhaustive list of major achievements in favor of women at HEC Paris can be viewed in this video:

Now women represent 32% of the 73.000 HEC Paris' Alumni.  

Proof of the HEC community's ongoing commitment to gender equality on this November 29, 2023, the new generations of female students at the Jouy-en-Josas Campus are also being honored, notably through inclusion through sport. The FHR team, a women's student rugby club, was praised on stage for organizing the first mixed international rugby tournament at HEC Paris this year, alongside their male counterparts.

HEC Paris, a school still working towards parity

Eloic Peyrache précise aussi qu’en termes d’entrepreneuriat, l’école est actuellement bien positionnée avec 42 % de femmes fondatrices au sein des 350 start-ups de l’Incubateur HEC. Ce chiffre est au-dessus des 32,3% d’entrepreneuses et 27% de femmes fondatrices de start-ups enregistrées en France par le baromètre Infogreffe et encore plus éloigné des 18% de fondatrices de start-ups à l’échelle mondiale recensées par une étude BCG. 

On the academic side, although the Grande Ecole Master in Management program is 44% female and the Masters of Science program is almost equally female, with 48% female students this year, on average over the last 5 years, female students across all programs have represented only 38.6% of students at HEC Paris.

Over the last 5 years, female students from all programs accounted for 38.6% of students at HEC Paris.

This shows just how far the school has come since it opened its entrance exam to women in 1973. Of course, it also highlights the fact that "we are not yet at parity", as Eloïc Peyrache, Dean and Managing Director of HEC Paris, acknowledges.

He goes on to point out that "over the past two years, we have recruited more women than men as professors at HEC. We have a whole group of people working on stereotypes, the aspirations of leaders, and the biases that exist."

"We have a whole set of people at HEC Paris working on stereotypes, the aspirations of leaders, and the biases that exist."

Eloic Peyrache also points out that, in terms of entrepreneurship, the school is currently well positioned, with 42% of the 350 start-ups in the HEC Incubator being founded by women. This figure is higher than the 32.3% of female entrepreneurs and 27% of female start-up founders recorded in France by the Infogreffe barometer, and even further from the 18% of female start-up founders worldwide recorded by a BCG study.

New scholarships for women MBAs and strenghtening of the StandUp Program

This anniversary also saw the official announcement of a new annual scholarship program offered by the Laidlaw Foundation to 10 women from underprivileged backgrounds to finance their MBA at HEC Paris.

Susanna Kempe, Executive Director of the Laidlaw Foundation, gave a candid account of her motivations. "We know that exceptional women will be able to acquire the skills, knowledge and network they need to build successful careers through HEC. We believe that these scholarships will change the lives of these women and prepare them to be better leaders. This will not only change their lives, but also the world of business: gender diversity in business ensures better, more profitable but also fairer deals."

At her side, Eloïc Peyrache reminds us that "HEC is committed to making an impact, particularly with the social elevator represented by the StandUp program. This free support program has already helped 350 women entrepreneurs from disadvantaged neighborhoods to break into the world of business, and we hope to reach 600 in the near future."

"Gender diversity in business ensures better, more profitable and fairer deals".