Women C.E.O.'s Pay: More Is Less

Tuesday's presidential election may well prove that Americans have entered a new era of racial equality.

When it comes to men-women income disparity, though, the United States is still in the Dark Ages, according to a new study.

While women C.E.O. base salaries are consistently higher than men C.E.O. base salaries, when total compensation is analyzed, women in corner offices earn 8 to 21 percent less than men in the same job at comparable companies.

That, at least, is the conclusion of The Corporate Library, an independent firm that monitors corporate governance and executive compensation. In a new study, the Corporate Library found that the median total annual compensation for women chief executives was $1,746,000 compared to over $2 million for men C.E.O.'s.

Size doesn't seem to matter, the study adds. Base salaries for women C.E.O.'s at S&P 500 and midsized firms tend to be higher than those of men, while women at leading smaller companies earn lower base salaries than men.

Patterns changed when total compensation is taken into account, however. At smaller companies, women C.E.O.'s at smaller companies received more total compensation than women leaders at larger companies -- and, in fact, more than men C.E.O.'s at comparably sized companies: $3.5 million on average, compared with $3 million for men.

At large firms, however, senior executives who happen to be top executives earn less than half of their male counterparts.

The study also looked at total shareholder returns among women-led companies to see if that explained the disparity. Women-led companies underperformed, but not enough to explain the men-women disparity in total annual compensation.

The startling numbers are more disturbing given the minuscule number of women C.E.O.'s available for the study. There were 33 times as many men C.E.O.'s than women chief executives available for the study: 2,620 men and 80 women.

The study noted that the ranks of women C.E.O.'s here would be a "shockingly low number in any major Western economy."

by Alfonso Serrano F.