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Journal of Corporate Finance Vol. 80 2023

Gender pay gap in American CFOs: Theory and evidence

Bill B. Francis; Iftekhar Hasan1,2,3; Gayané Hovakimian1; Zenu Sharma4

1 Fordham University · 2 Bank of Finland · 3 University Bank · 4 St. John's University

Abstract

Studies document persistent unexplained gender-based wage gap in labor markets. At the executive level, where skill and education are similar, career interruptions and differences in risk preferences primarily explain the extant gender-based pay gap. This study focuses on CFO compensation contracts of Execucomp firms (1992–2020) and finds no gender-based pay gap. This paper offers several explanations for this phenomenon, such as novel evidence on the risk preferences of females with financial expertise and changes in the social and regulatory climate.

DOI
10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102404
Volume
80
Pages
102404
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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