Data: The Conference Board, FW Cook, and ESGAUGE. Note: Number is for total compensation including base pay, cash bonus, stock awards and options, and other perquisites. Chart: Axios Visuals
There's a gender pay gap at the top, but it's flipped. Women CEOs are out-earning their male peers.
Why it matters: Typically, men make more than women.
State of play: Before you start proclaiming that yes, indeed, women can have it all. Becalm yourself.
This is likely a matter of sample size. There are only about 40 women chief execs in this group — just 7.9% of all CEOs in the index.
By the numbers: Median total compensation for women CEOs at S&P 500 companies was $16.5 million in 2024, compared to $15.6 million for men, per an analysis released Friday of publicly disclosed data.
There is a similar gap for CEOs at Russell 3000 firms — women's median pay is $6.7 million, compared to $6.1 million for men.
Zoom out: On the whole, men still earn more. The median woman working full-time earned 83% of what the median guy made in 2023, per Census data.