For the few women who sit atop S&P 500 companies, thinner paychecks as median compensation slips

By MAE ANDERSON
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Last year was a mixed bag pay-wise for the women who run companies in the S&P 500 — compensation increased for more than half of them, but the median pay package fell 6%. Of the 343 CEOs in the compensation survey of S&P 500 companies done by the AP and Equilar, only 20 were women. Because they are a small group, changes in pay for only a few can easily skew the overall figures. The drop comes after a 26% jump in pay for female CEOs in 2021, a year when pay packages reflected a recovering economy and soaring stock prices and profits.