GM's First Female CEO Only Paid Half What Her Male Predecessor Was

Were you excited about the announcement that General Motors had hired its first ever female chief executive officer, Mary Barra? Did you, like a lot of other people, think it was a perhaps a huge step forward for women in bridging the gender gap or breaking through the glass ceiling or leaning in or whatever? Well, sexism says NOT SO FAST LOL.

Turns out that Barra will be paid less than half what Dan Akerson got.

General Motors will pay Barra $4.4 million in salary and other compensation,
according to a regulatory filing. Akerson earned $9.1 million in 2012,
which included $1.7 million in salary and stock awards of $7.3 million. Akerson’s continuing pay as a senior adviser may raise even more
eyebrows, given that he’s entitled to $4.68 million, more than Barra is
slated to earn.

GM responded to this, by saying LOL WHAT NAH, THAT’S CRAY. Actually they said “This represents two of her three compensation components. Specific
long-term incentive compensation numbers will be included in the
company’s April 2014 proxy filing, which likely will dispel any notion
of pay inequity,” adding that discussion of pay
inequality is “premature and flawed.”

Uh-huh, talking about pay inequality is “flawed,” like how only eight percent of the highest paid executives in the S&P 500 were women in 2012, or how the highest paid women earned 18 percent less than men. SO PREMATURE YOU GUYS. Sheesh.

Oh and let’s not forget how much more money Akerson is going to get than Barra while he’s working as a “consultant:”

Even worse, GM is paying its first female CEO less in salary than
Akerson will reap in base pay for his consulting work. For his advising
the automaker, Akerson will be paid $1.7 million. Barra? She’ll bring
home 6% less, with GM giving her $1.6 million in salary for her role as
the company’s top executive.

FLAWED EVERYWHERE.

Of course, it’s true we won’t really know her full compensation package until April. Maybe GM will give her a nice muffin basket or something. I got a muffin basket at my last job. It had blueberry and cranberry, you guys.