Established in 1998 from a generous bequest by Jane M. Klausman, a member of the Zonta Club of Syracuse, New York USA, and the 1990-1995 Zonta International Parliamentarian, the Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship is awarded annually to women pursuing undergraduate or Master's degrees in business management.
Women have made great strides in the pursuit of education, careers and leadership roles they were once denied; however, today, women are still more likely to be pouring the coffee in global boardrooms than sitting on the boards. In 2009, women held only 15.2% of the board seats at Fortune 500 companies according to the Catalyst organization. The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship program helps women pursue undergraduate and Master's degrees in business management and overcome gender barriers from the classroom to the boardroom.
Since the program's inception, Zonta has awarded 237 scholarships to women from 37 countries.