Bell adds that the administration is uncertain how to tackle what is perceived as an “unconscious bias.”

“If we knew a way to detect the problem and we could solve it, we would,” Bell says.

Entrepreneurial management professor Lynda M. Applegate notes that she has seen an improvement in the environment for women at the Business School during her 24 years at the school, adding that the pressures of tenure review have increased for both male and female junior faculty.

Each of the nine women who left Harvard Business School went on to join the faculty at other business schools or enter the private sector. Several are now tenured or up for tenure.

“You’d think that the Business School would have better success in attracting and keeping women,” one of the women says. “The administration is not malicious—they just haven’t figured out how to do that yet.”

—Staff writer Tara W. Merrigan can be reached at tmerrigan@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer William N. White can be reached at wwhite@fas.harvard.edu.