Top female CEOs earn less overall, study finds

By DIANE STAFFORD

The Kansas City Star

More News

Among the nation’s top-paid executives, female CEOs start out with a higher base pay than their male peers but earn substantially less overall.

The compensation twist — which found men pulling in far larger bonuses and perquisites last year — was reported Monday by the Corporate Library.

On average, male CEOs received discretionary bonuses that were more than 3.5 times larger than what female CEOs received, according to the 2007-2008 study. Also, the “perks” for male CEOs were valued at nearly twice the amount their female counterparts received.

The total “realized compensation” for the male CEOs erased the initial pay edge for their peer group of women.

The report, which covered 78 female CEOs and 2,625 male CEOs, noted that median base salary for the select group of women was $40,000 more than the male CEO group’s.

But the female CEOs were especially hard hit in the 2007-2008 study years. Total compensation for the female CEOs fell by a median of 18.5 percent, compared with a median decline of just 6.1 percent for male CEOs’ pay. The corporate-governance research firm said the female CEOs, on average, earned 58 percent of what males earned, and on the median, the female CEOs earned 78 percent of what the male CEOs made.

“Comparisons between male and female pay can be complicated,” said Greg Ruel, author of the report. “Though the female sample is much smaller than the male sample, there are nonetheless notable differences in the way male and female CEOs are compensated.”

To reach Diane Stafford, call 816-234-4359.

Posted on Mon, Oct. 26, 2009 10:15 PM

Buzz Up

Comment (0)

Join the discussion

Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open, civil debate is the goal. Please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the "Report as abuse" link.