01 Aug Gender Gap Not Skipping the C-suite

Sexism descrimination concept as a struggling woman with the burden of pulling a heavy female 3D illustration symbol falling behind a group of running businessmen or men as an unfair gender bias icon.

Study: The more you make, the larger the disparity

It’s bad enough that women earn less than men, but for women at the top, the gender wage gap gets worse. Financial technology company SmartAsset looked at data for 126 occupations to find out which ones had the largest and smallest pay gaps. While the average woman makes 82 percent of what the average man makes, many professional women have a steeper hill to climb.

Among the findings:
The pay gap even affects the boss.
Breaking the glass ceiling won’t ensure you a fair shake. Women CEOs experienced the fifth-largest gender pay gap of all professions, with an average salary of $90,300 per year compared to $129,400 for men.

Highly compensated women face a larger gap.
Occupations that pay higher salaries tend to have the least parity. Among the occupations that have the highest wage gap: CEOs, physicians, and financial managers. Among the occupations with the smallest wage gap: receptionists, cashiers, and office clerks.

Women get the short shrift in sales. Several sales-related positions dominate the list of 10 occupations with the largest pay gap, including financial services sales agents, real estate sales agents, and retail salespersons. If you’re in sales, you may want to use your persuasion skills to go after a higher salary.