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Covert reports: "Ken Auletta at the New Yorker reported that the incident may have been set off by the fact that Abramson found out she was being paid less than men around her and asked top management about the disparities."

Jill Abramson. (photo: Kena Betancur/Reuters)
Jill Abramson. (photo: Kena Betancur/Reuters)


Jill Abramson and the Pervasive Risks of Demanding Equal Pay

By Bryce Covert, ThinkProgress

16 May 14

 

n Wednesday, the New York Times abruptly announced that Executive Editor Jill Abramson would be leaving the role, to be replaced by Dean Baquet. The paper didn’t share details as to why the change was made so quickly and without warning, with its own story on the change up at first saying the reasons “were not immediately clear.”

But shortly after, Ken Auletta at the New Yorker reported that the incident may have been set off by the fact that Abramson found out she was being paid less than men around her and asked top management about the disparities. According to his anonymous sources, she found out that not only was she was getting less in pay and benefits than Bill Keller, previous executive editor of the paper, in two different jobs where she replaced him, but that she made less than a man who reported to her when she was managing editor. While this may not have been the direct cause of her dismissal, it seems that when she had her lawyer look into the disparities top management thought she was “pushy” and it set off other tensions in the newsroom. Other reports are that many who worked with her thought she was “brusque to the point of rudeness.”

It’s not clear what role this really did play in Tuesday’s announcement, nor even if it’s true. A spokesperson told Politico that her “compensation as executive editor was not less than Bill Keller’s” and the lower pension benefits were because of her shorter tenure at the paper. But the same spokesperson told Business Insider that her pay “was not meaningfully less” and David Folkenflik has confirmed that Abramson did bring up unequal pay with management.

Many women who reach the top are still paid less than their male peers. The highest paid female executives at S&P 500 companies still make 18 percent less than the men in these roles, on average. For example, Heather Bresch, CEO of pharmaceutical company Mylan, makes about a third less than average CEO pay in her sector, and Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison makes about a quarter less.

Other high-profile female executives have found out that they’re making less than the men around them this year. This year, Mary Barra, the first female CEO of General Motors, will make less than half of what her outgoing male predecessor made — $2.8 million compared to $7.3 million — and less than what he will be paid as a senior advisor after he’s gone. This is despite her 30 plus years of experience at the company and the fact that the man before her had no car industry experience. The company has noted that her long-term compensation represents a 60 percent increase over his, but she will only see that money if she stays with the company for a certain period of time.

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, experienced the other half of what Abramson may have gone through: being paid less than a man who reports to you. She made $62 million over the same period that the male COO of the company, who worked under her, made $96 million. Worse, he was fired in January. Part of his pay total is a severance package that got a bump from the company’s stock price when he left, and as with Barra, Mayer stands to see more long-term compensation. But the differences are still stark.

Being fired is also a common experience among women who reach the top. The few women who make it to the chief executive suit are more likely than men to be forced out. Abramson’s experience is again typical: part of the problem seems to be that women tend to be brought in from the outside (Abramson spent most of her previous career at the Wall Street Journal) and they may only be brought in to clean up when things are getting messy. This phenomenon is called the glass cliff: Multiple studies have found that women are more likely to be brought into leadership roles when the outlook is bad. Abramson joined the Times in 2011, just as newspaper advertising revenue was beginning to tank.

Baquet, who is replacing Abramson, is the first black person to take on the top editorial role. People of color also experience the glass cliff and pay inequities, so his appointment breaks another important barrier, even if it comes on the heels of controversy.

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