Women CEOs earning more than male counterparts but that’s not the full story

Typically, men earn more than women worldwide. Despite improvements over the last few years, the gender pay gap remains there. Now, a new analysis released Friday (Oct 11) reveals how the gender pay gap isn’t always tilted in favour of men. The Conference Board in its report found that top women CEOs in the United States are out-earning their male counterparts.

Understand with data

The Conference Board analysed publicly available data and found that the median total remuneration for women CEOs at S&P 500 companies was $16.5 million in 2024, compared to $15.6 million for men.

A similar trend was observed at Russell 3000 firms.

The total average compensation for women CEOs was found to be $6.7 million, 0.6 million more than men’s $6.1 million.

Earlier in March, similar reports surfaced in New Zealand. Women CEOs in New Zealand earned an average salary of $5.9 million, more than twice their male counterparts, who had an average pay of $2.6 million.

Here, the women's participation in executive roles was also found to be the highest, at 40 per cent.

Australian women CEOs also earned more than their male counterparts in 2023. The median pay of women CEOs was estimated at $8.9 million, way more than the men’s $6.3 million.

Full picture

But the above data doesn’t mean that women in general are earning more. It’s a matter of sample size. For instance, The Conference Board found in its analysis there were only 40 women CEOs, or a mere 7.9 per cent of all CEOs in the index.

So, on the whole, men are still earning more. According to Census data, the median woman working full-time earned 83 per centof what the median guy made in 2023.

(With inputs from agencies)