Female CEOs Make $600,000 Less Than Male Counterparts in Washington Lobby Groups

Impact

Female CEOs working in lobbying groups are not only a minority in Washington (and everywhere else for that matter), they also receive the lowest pay. According to a report by Bloomberg news, they are earning on average $600,000 less than their male colleagues working in the same industry. Whereas the eight female CEOs working in this sector made an average of 1.31 million, men earned 1.93 million. That's 68 cents to the dollar.

Yikes.

The CEO of Gray & Christmas Inc., John Challenger, told Bloomberg that these figures show just how much discrimination still plays out in the workplace. "It seems like men and women would have equal lobbying ability — I can’t see why there’d be any difference in pay ... The most obvious answer is that it’s discrimination."

Sure, some women are new to these CEO positions so they might not come with the same amount of tenure, but they should still be paid the same salary if they're getting the job done. Lisa Maatz of the American Association of University Women says that inexperience can't explain this huge wage gap. "Whether they hire a man or a woman to be the CEO, they are going to be doing the same job,” she explained. "Frankly, this pay gap is probably something that has followed these women throughout their careers."

Fatima Goss Graves, who works for the National Women’s Law Center, told Bloomberg that media coverage of these wage gap discrepancies will make them more accountable and make "good old-fashioned discrimination" unacceptable. "I hope by putting this information out there that the boards of these associations will take a closer look because, when it comes down to it, you want talent at the top," she added. "Underpaying women is not going to be the road to get there."

It's one thing to get female CEO'S in the boardroom, and another to pay them fairly. Maybe this should be the subject of Warren Buffet's next tweet?

For more on the gender wage gap, follow me on Twitter: @feministabulous