More women are attaining the top job at companies in the S&P 500, but their numbers are still minuscule compared to their male counterparts, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Of the 341 CEOs included in the AP’s annual compensation survey, 25 are women. That’s the most women making the list since the survey began in 2011, but the numbers haven’t budged very much. The second highest tally was 21 women in 2017.
The survey, based on data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar, includes CEOs at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2024.
Lisa Su, CEO and chair of the board of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, was the highest paid female CEO in the AP survey for the fifth year in a row in fiscal 2023. The others in the top five highest paid female CEOs include Mary Barra of automaker General Motors; Jane Fraser of banking giant Citigroup; Kathy Warden of aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman Corp.; and Carol Tome of package deliverer UPS Inc.
The median pay package for female CEOs rose 21% to $17.6 million. That’s better than the men fared. Their median pay package rose 12% to $16.3 million; however, the highest paid men still make far more than the highest paid women.
Additional research from Christy Glass, a professor of sociology at Utah State University, shows women are more likely to be appointed CEO at disadvantaged companies.
