Gender Pay Gap Persists at CEO Level, Too

When it comes to equal pay for equal work, female CEOs have yet to level the playing field, either, blogs Jena McGregor in BusinessWeek. Women at the top today earn 85% of what their male counterparts make—$1.75 million compared with $2.1 million at the median—even though their base salaries are higher, a new report shows. The gap is widest at large firms, where female chiefs earn two-thirds that of male execs.

Researchers speculate that the scarcity of female CEOs (3%) contributes to their lower pay, as does their tendency to lead struggling companies. Or maybe it’s just that men get all the credit? Men receive more "internal attributions" for a company's performance, says the author of another study, whereas boards are more prone to cite external economic situations when it comes to a female manager.