Female CEOs - What Top Female CEOs Earn

Female CEOs who break through the glass ceiling still face a persistent form of gender bias -- one that's apparent when you look at what top female CEOs earn. Although the average woman earns 78 cents on every dollar a man earns, the average female CEO earns only 33 cents on every dollar a male CEO makes. On average, women earned $3.8 million while men earned $11.9 million.

In announcing America's top-paid female CEOs in September 2009, Forbes magazine noted the discrepancy in pay and compensation between men and women, even in the same field:

[E]xecutive women still struggle for respect. Lynn Elsenhans, the only woman running a big oil company, was paid $2.2 million last year by $37 billion refiner Sunoco. Bruce Smith, head of refining concern Tesoro, which had sales of $20 billion in 2008, took home $18.6 million.

In determining a CEO's compensation, several factors -- such as a CEO's length of time with the company -- influence decision-making. And compensation typically reflects much more than just a CEO's salary. Additional perks include bonuses, stock options, and executive personal benefits; these may take the form of medical exams, tax preparation, club memberships, and use of corporate vehicles (e.g. the oft-maligned company jet.)

Below is a table listing the top paid female CEOs as determined by Forbes. Compare this with the list of the top female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and you'll see that a CEO's earnings are not necessarily tied to her company's ranking.

_{Source:
Brown, Heidi and Scott DeCarlo. "America's Top-Paid Female CEOs." Forbes.com. 23 September 2009.
"By The Numbers: What Women CEOs Are Earning." Forbes.com. 23 September 2009.}

What Top Female CEOs Earn

Name	Company	Tenure as CEO	Compensation in Millions
Andrea Jung	Avon Products	10 years	$11.8
Carol Meyrowitz	TJX	3 years	$11.1
Indra Nooyi	PepsiCo	3 years	$9.4
Susan Ivey	Reynolds American	5 years	$9.4
Tamara Lundgren	Schnitzer Steel Industries	10 months	$6.6
Irene Rosenfeld	Kraft	3 years	$5.7
Kay Krill	Ann Taylor Stores	4 years	$5.3
Brenda Barnes	Sarah Lee	5 years	$4.6
Patricia Woertz	Archer Daniels Midland	3 years	$4.5
Angela Braly	WellPoint	2 years	$4.1