IIM-B -- still a male bastion

Girl students may take the lead in class X and class XII board exams, but IIM Bangalore seems to be a male bastion. This year, only 24.7% of those who took the Common Admission Test (CAT) for IIM-B were women. And an even smaller 17.18% have been shortlisted for group discussion and personal interviews. Compare this with a whopping 75.29% men who applied and 82.82% who've cleared the first round, an analysis conducted by the premier B-school of CAT 2006 revealed. Even among the women, it was general category (26.16%) and ST (23.75%) who were keener on getting into a B-school than women in the other categories. Sadly, only 18.53% general category and 12.66% ST women have been shortlisted for the next round. Notwithstanding, the stiff opposition raised by IIMs over bringing OBC students into their campuses, OBC candidates have outperformed their SC and ST counterparts with 43.34% making it to the next round. The percentile scores in respect of SC\ST was 37.36 and 34.84 respectively. However, it was the general category that took the lead with 52.76% clearing CAT. What's heartening is that the difference in the average marks obtained between the general category candidates and the OBC candidates is a mere 2%. While the average scores of general category shortlisted candidates is 99.14%, it's 97.73% among the OBCs.
The SC\ST candidates, too, are not far behind, with SCs scoring 89.04% and STs procuring 81.46%.