Women CEOs of startups they founded paid themselves less during the pandemic, while men gave themselves raises, according to a new report.
According to the report, from New York-based accounting firm Kruze Consulting, women CEOs made $20,000 less than their male counterparts.
Female CEOs also cut their pay by 30% during Covid, lowering salaries to $101,000 in 2020 from $138,000 in 2019. Meanwhile, men rewarded themselves with a raise — to $146,000 in 2020 from $143,000 in 2019.
The salary gap between female and male startup leaders grew four times wider this year, compared to $5,000 in 2019, Inc. reported. The study analyzed 250 seed and venture-funded startups in the United States.
For every dollar male CEOs earned, women earned $0.86 in 2022 — down from $0.89 in 2021. Women also only increased their annual salary by $1,000, while male CEOs raked in $5,000 more.
Vanessa Kruze, CEO of Kruze Consulting, said the findings show that female executives bore the brunt of a punishing pandemic.
“The setback in salaries for female startup CEOs is troubling, especially considering that the market was much closer to parity in 2019, prior to the COVID crisis,” said Kruze. “Early-stage companies, as well as all other companies, should evaluate their policies to determine how the gender pay gap increased in the last three years, and see what steps they can take to better support female leaders.”