The popular press regularly publishes articles about gender pay gap in the workforce, and it has recently started talking of a “female premium” in CEO compensation, according to research from the University of Alabama. This is problematic because it may create a perception that women CEOs are paid much more than their male counterparts.

“Something just didn’t add up for us,” said study co-author Dr. Sandra Mortal, associate professor in UA’s Culverhouse College of Business.

Using compensation data from Execucomp, the study covers all forms of compensation, including base pay and stock options, from large public firms in the United States from 1996 to 2014. The researchers also examined shorter time windows during this period, finding consistent results.

The team found no gender bias in the remuneration provided to male and female CEOs. CEO compensation increased drastically over the years, and so have the number of women CEOs in corporate America, according to the study.

“Any investigation of gender differences in CEO compensation needs to account for time trends in the data,” said co-author Dr. Vishal Gupta, associate professor in UA’s Culverhouse College of Business.

Source: University of Alabama