Getting to the bag has been a part of Spelman College alumna Rosaline “Roz” Brewer’s story.
Appointed as the CEO of Walgreens in March 2021, Roz has now become the highest-paid female chief executive officer, according to a recent Equilar study.
Brewer’s salary was $28.3 million, with $20.2 million of that compensation in stock awards.
According to CBNC, Equilar looked at the largest 100 companies by revenue that filed 2021 proxy statements by March 31. Although several companies have not submitted proxy statements, the data found did provide insight into how things are shaping up for top executive women.
According to the data, nine women CEOs are among the top female earners. This was an increase from six in the prior year. However, there were no women in the overall top chief executives. Nevertheless, Brewer ranked 14 overall among the highest-paid CEOs.
“It is discouraging to see how underrepresented women are at the top and how overrepresented they continue to be at the bottom of the income scale,” said Sarah Anderson, an executive compensation expert at the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies.
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
Overall, male CEOs are still paid more than women. However, the data shows that there has been an overall increase in compensation since the pandemic started. Additionally, the growth in the stock market has created more of an increase in the value of equity-based compensation for executives.
For context, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook’s pay rose over 560 percent between 2020 and 2021. In addition to the rise in numbers, the data in the study also shows that the gap between executives and their workforce is growing larger.
For every one dollar the average worker made, chief executives made $254. However, the median pay rose from $68,883 to $71,869 for the average workforce, according to the CNBC report. This increase has been sustainable despite the skyrocketing inflation numbers.
