GM’s First Female CEO Will Make Half Of What Her Predecessor Made

[erpowers]

31. Much Ado About Nothing

I understand some at DU might not like me writing this, but this article is much ado about nothing. In a later update to the article the pay difference was explained by saying Barra was only the CEO of the company while her predecessor was both the chairman and CEO of the company. Her base pay is only $100,000 less than her predecessor, so the pay gap seems reasonable since she is only doing one job while her predecessor did two jobs. I think the fact that Barra is only the CEO of the company also accounts for the fact that she is paid less in stock options.

As we look at the CEO pay gap we probably should look at how many female CEOs are just the CEO of the company. It might be the case that in all the instances listed in the article the female CEOs are only the CEO of their company while their male counterparts are both the chairmen and CEOs of the companies. That might actually explain the pay gap.