Is the United States falling behind in women's rights?
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Mary Ellen Carter: On National Equal Pay Day, grim truth is women still make less than men. But there's good news for corporate women
She says research shows pay gap lower when women serve on corporate boards; effect spreads to company's other executive level women
Editor’s Note: Mary Ellen Carter is an associate professor of accounting with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College; the focus of her research is executive compensation. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
CNN
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That women have long been paid less than men for the same job is not news. Susan B. Anthony advocated equal pay for equal work back in 1868. It’s been nearly 150 years since then; we’ve come very far, haven’t we? If only.
Lee Pellegrini
Mary Ellen Carter
In fact, as we observe National Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, the news remains discouraging. I study executive compensation, and I can confirm that even the most powerful women in America are still paid less than their male counterparts. But there is some good news.
Some U.S. companies have discovered a way to close the gap: putting more women on their boards of directors.
In new research my co-authors and I found that pay gaps are much lower when more women serve on corporate boards. For example, the proportion of female directors at the Massachusetts company TJX (parent of T.J. Maxx, Home Goods and other apparel and home goods retailers) has hovered around 30% since 2006.
Emmy Noether, right, is featured in the March 23, 2015 Google doodle in commemoration of what would be her 133rd birthday. The math wizard came up with an algebraic theorem that connected two fundamental laws of physics. Noether's Theory is seen by some to be as important as Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. In fact, Einstein considered Noether to be the most significant female mathematician.
Harvard professor Lisa Randall, left, researches theoretical particles and cosmology. By connecting the ideas about theoretical particles to the questions about the universe that physicists have yet to answer, she has developed new understanding about dark matter and extra dimensions in space.
Click through the gallery for more women pioneers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and their modern counterparts.
Photos: Famous women in history
Roy Kaltschmidt/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/Landov
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Grace Murray Hopper, an American computer scientist and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (right), created Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL.) She also coined the term "debugging" in reference to fixing a computer.
Hopper paved the way for other females in computer science, including University of California at Berkeley Professor Katherine Yelick. She is the co-author of two books and more than 100 technical papers on parallel languages, compilers, algorithms, libraries, architecture, and storage. She led the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center from 2008 to 2012 -- a high-performance computing facility that helps scientists run tests. One of the computers in the facility is named after Hopper.
Photos: Famous women in history
NASA/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
The work of solar astronomer Mitzi Adams, left, has improved our understanding of the sun's turbulent behavior. Since joining NASA in 1988 at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, she has conducted research for a variety of solar missions. She carries on the tradition of discovery that Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) began in the late 1800s. Cannon was known as the "census taker in the sky," and developed a stellar classification system that became the standard of the Harvard Observatory.
Photos: Famous women in history
MIT/womanastronomer.com
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Sara Seager, left, can measure outer space. An astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT, her research led, in part, to the first detection of light emitted by an exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system. She now focuses on characterizing all aspects of exoplanets, from theoretical models of their atmospheres to detecting the growth of a constellation. She continues the kind of work astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt did. Leavitt, right, discovered a relationship between the brightness and fluctuation of stars, as seen from Earth, that became the basis of astronomers' ability to measure the distance between Earth and other galaxies.
Photos: Famous women in history
NASA
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
American physician and former NASA astronaut Mae Carol Jemison, left, became the first black woman to travel in space in 1992. As an astronaut, Jemison served as a liaison between the astronaut corps and launch operations at Kennedy Space Center, according to her biography. She also flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in the first joint mission with the Japanese Space Agency. Fellow astronaut Sally Ride, right, helped pave the way for Jemison's career: In 1983, she flew to space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, becoming the first American woman (and, at 32, the youngest American) to enter space. She flew on Challenger again in 1984 and later was the only person to serve on both panels that investigated the nation's space shuttle disasters in 1986 and 2003. Ride died in December 2012.
Photos: Famous women in history
MIT/Getty Images
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Shafi Goldwasser, left, is one of the world's leading cryptology and complexity theory experts. A professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT as well as a professor of mathematical sciences for the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, her work has allowed secure information to be sent over the Internet. Ada Byron Lovelace, right, helped make Goldwasser's research possible by conceiving the first algorithm that could be processed by a machine. Lovelace is largely seen as the world's first computer programmer.
Photos: Famous women in history
Courtesy Iowa State University/Hutton Archive/Getty Images
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Nuclear chemist Darleane Hoffman, left, specializes in heavy elements like plutonium. She was part of a team that focused on confirming the discovery of Seaborgium, element 106. Her research has revealed new aspects of fission and atomic processes, and she was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1997. The discoveries of Marie Curie (1867-1934) were similarly focused: Her observations of radiation suggested a relationship between radioactivity and the heavy elements of the periodic table. Curie's painstaking research with her husband, Pierre, culminated in the isolation of two new, heavy elements -- polonium, which they named for Marie's homeland, and the naturally glowing radium.
Photos: Famous women in history
ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Meave Leakey, zoologist and long-time head of the Tigoni Primate Research Centre's Division of Paleontology, is part of the Leaky scientist dynasty in Kenya. Her family has been responsible for groundbreaking work in the discovery of early human fossils and the concept of human evolution. Leakey carries on the grand tradition of Mary Anning, who has been called "the greatest fossilist the world ever knew." She grew up in Great Britain's Lyme Regis, a shoreline full of Jurassic fossils. Anning and her family found the first ichthyosaur fossil specimen and Anning is credited with finding the first plesiosaurus, the first pterodactylus macronyx in Britain and the squaloraja fish fossil.
Photos: Famous women in history
Wings Worldquest/Scripps Institution of Oceanography Archives
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Wings Women of Discovery award winner Alexandra Morton knows more about orca and dolphin migration and communication than just about anyone else in the world. She helped create the first photo catalog of dolphins. She now fights to protect wild salmon populations from the impact of farm fishing. Her accomplishments are widely acknowledged, something that did not come as easily for Rosa Smith Eigenmann, right, the first female Ichthyologist "of any accomplishments," according to marine biologist Carl L. Hubbs. Eigenmann discovered the blind goby fish in San Diego as a young woman. She raised five children and managed to formally describe 150 species of fish with her husband. She ended her career after his death in 1927.
Photos: Famous women in history
Alexander Klein/Getty Images/U.S. National Library of Medicine/NIH
The historical analogs of brilliant women —
Biological researcher Elizabeth Blackburn was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering (along with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak) how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. Recognition of the importance of her discoveries was something that fellow scientist Rosalind Franklin did not achieve, even though there are many who believe that without Franklin, James Watson and Francis Crick would not have formed their 1953 hypothesis regarding the structure of DNA. The British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA, which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix.
And in our analyses, Carol Meyrowitz, who retired as TJX CEO in January, was paid fairly, relative to executives of comparable companies as she rose through the ranks. TJX illustrates what our overall analyses show – that this effect flows deeper into the executive pool. Other top-level female executives, like chief financial officers, are also better paid when the board includes more women.
We haven’t yet pinpointed the reason that having more female board members leads to higher pay for female executives. Some scholars argue that diversity promotes deeper discussions in the boardroom. Others say that having more females at the table reduces gender bias. Whatever the reason, the gap in gender-diverse firms is lower than at companies with all-male boards.
How do we achieve even greater board equity? The answer is not obvious. One problem is the supply. Though board members don’t need to come from corporate America, many of them do. And with so few females in executive positions, there may not be enough women with high-level experience to populate those boards.
Female lawmakers comprise more than 20% of the U.S. Congress, nearly double the level of 20 years ago. In corporate America, female executives held 9% of the top positions in S&P 1500 companies in 2014, triple what it was two decades ago. All these high-achieving women are potential board members, and greater supply yields greater placement: In 2014, almost 15% of S&P 1500 board seats were held by women, double the 1997 rate.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
Young feminists —
The names Betty, Gloria and Shirley probably come to mind when most think of feminists, but there's a whole group of young women -- and men -- who are working toward equality. Here is a short list -- who would you add? Tweet us @CNNLiving with #fem2.
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani student and education activist, who gained international attention after she was shot in 2012 by Taliban gunmen. "I want to become a prime minister of Pakistan," she said, saying it could make her "the doctor of the whole country."
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
hos Robinson/Getty Images for Ms. Foundation for Women
Young feminists —
Journalist Gloria Steinem poses with Kierra Johnson at the Ms. Foundation's Women of Vision 2013 Gala earlier this year. Johnson, the executive director of Choice USA, an abortion rights organization, has worked to mobilize youth around reproductive justice.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The New Yorker
Young feminists —
There's been no shortage of ink written on Tavi Gevinson, the wunderkind founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine, Rookie. In her 2012 TEDtalk on feminism, she spoke about women in media: "What makes a strong female character is a character who has weaknesses, who has flaws, who is maybe not immediately likable, but eventually relatable."
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
courtesy Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Young feminists —
Samhita Mukhopadhyay is a feminist writer, speaker and digital strategist. As the former executive editor of Feministing.com, she also wrote "Outdated: Why Dating is Ruining Your Love Life." Now, she works as a senior strategist at Purpose developing digital campaigns for girls and women.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
Change.org
Young feminists —
Sammi Siegel, Emma Axelrod and Elena Tsemberis are three New Jersey teens who petitioned to get a female moderator for the 2012 presidential debate. CNN's Candy Crowley was named a moderator for the second debate, in which wage parity became an issue.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Young feminists —
Gaby Pacheco, an immigrant rights leader and director of the Bridge Project, left, was accompanied by Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, when Pacheco testified before Congress about the DREAM Act.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
courtesy Mira Zaki
Young feminists —
Jamia Wilson is the executive director of YTH -- Youth Tech Health -- an organization that advances youth health and wellness through technology. She's been named one of faces of the future of feminism and was part of a co-founding leadership committee of SPARK Movement.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
Young feminists —
Shelby Knox was featured in a documentary that chronicled her teenage activism for comprehensive sex education and gay rights in her Southern Baptist community. She has been an activist for 10 years and works at Change.org on campaigns for gender justice.
Photos: Photos: Feminists of the future
courtesy Diego Siragna
Young feminists —
Sunny Clifford is advocate for reproductive health and justice and petitioned for Native American women's access to emergency contraception. She was featured in the documentary "Young Lakota."
To be sure, not all the pay gap is rooted in unequal board representation. Our research shows that female executives tend to accept less at-risk pay — stock options and other performance-based equity compensation. They are more risk averse and prefer more certain payouts, like salary. Since equity compensation is a large part of pay, some of the gap may never disappear.
We are able to study the most highly paid executives in the United States because the Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to disclose their compensation each year, yet even full transparency hasn’t stopped corporate America from paying women less than men for the same jobs.
For S&P 1500 executives, total pay for females was 15% lower than that of their male counterparts in our 1996–2010 sample. And no matter how we slice and dice the data, the gap endures: We match each female executive with a male of the same title, age and tenure at a similar firm. What do we find? On average, she’s paid less. We identify cases in which a man is replaced by a woman and vice versa and (surprise!) pay for the new executive is higher if the replacement is male and lower if female.
Over the course of a career, this is costly: An analysis from the National Women’s Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy group, shows that for the average woman in the United States, such inequality reduces lifetime pay by $430,000.
Politics may have its problems but give Washington this: It mandates pay equity in elected positions. If Hillary Clinton replaces Barack Obama as president, she’ll be paid the same wage.
But pay gaps exist across all other segments of the work force – even in Hollywood and professional sports, as the actress Jennifer Lawrence and players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team will tell you.
Though there is hope for pay equity in the corner office, for women in less high-profile roles, closure of the pay gap progresses at a snail’s pace. After nearly a century and a half, we still have a long way to go. Happy National Equal Pay Day.
