 "Women, Women CEO")
2022 was a mixed-bag year pay-wise for the women who run companies in the S&P 500. While the compensation increased for more than half of them, the median pay package fell to six per cent, a new report showed.
The Associated Press and Equilar conducted a compensation survey of the S&P 500 companies and it revealed that out of the 343 CEOs, only 20 were women. Since women constitute a small group, changes in pay for only a few can easily alter the overall figures.
This drop comes after a 26 per cent jump in the value of pay packages for female CEOs in 2021, a year when compensation reflected a recovering economy and soaring stock prices and profits. Many chief executives were rewarded for steering their companies through the worst of the pandemic, the report further stated.
While overall, female CEOs saw their performance bonuses fall 13 per cent to $2.8 million last year, their median total compensation fell 6 per cent to $14.7 million. The median pay for male CEOs, on the other hand, increased by a per cent to $14.8 million.
Lorraine Hariton, President & CEO of Catalyst said, we still do not have enough women CEOs. She further added, "It’s hard to make a comment about pay when we really don’t have a big enough sample size.”
The compensation survey included pay data for 343 CEOs at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two financial years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between January 1 and April 30, the report further mentioned.
