Although women tend to lag behind men in compensation across all industries, women CEOs earned more than men in a 2010 survey of companies listed in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, according to Bloomberg. Getting to the top of a company is an accomplishment that is well-compensated, and, in the case of large, public companies, pay is so scrutinized that any discrimination would likely be very obvious.
Identification
The salary of any female CEO depends in large part on the company and her credentials. Among top public companies, women earned about $14 million in 2009, or 40 percent more than men, according to Bianna Golodryga of ABC News. Some of the top performers were Carol Bartz of Yahoo! at $47.2 million and Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld, who took home $26.3 million. Overall, female CEOs make about 85 percent of that of their male counterparts when you factor in bonuses. A 2008 Corporate Library survey found a median of $1,746,000 for women compared to $2,049,000 for men.
Considerations
Women in general earned about 79 cents on the dollar compared to men in 2009, according to Golodryga. Also, women comprise only about 3 percent of all CEO positions. Low sample sizes can skew the average CEO pay for women. At the very least, the number of female CEOs is the lowest of any Western economy, which means women face significant barriers to obtaining top positions in companies. However, nothing in the 2008 survey could explain the difference in CEO pay between genders.
Benefits
In general, the gap between men and women for CEO pay grows smaller over time. This is partly due to companies looking for new types of candidates for CEOs in women. Women are twice as likely to obtain a CEO position as an outsider to a company than promoted from within it. More women at the top of the corporate chain might mean closing the income gap for all women and changing the business culture in the United States.
Increasing Pay
It is possible that some women earn less than their male counterparts because of a lack of aggression. In a 2010 ABC News study, men and women were asked to participate in a paid study. Half of men ask for an increase in pay when offered the minimum pay, compared to only a third of women. Also, women CEOs tend to choose a higher annual salary rather than risk taking stock options, thus, limiting their pay to current performance rather than the future health of the company.
Tags: 2008 Corporate, 2008 Corporate Library, about percent, Also women, Corporate Library