The world is not always a fair place.  Some people are born into money while others are born into poverty.  Some people are born healthy and others are born sickly.  Some people are just prettier or more charismatic or intelligent than others.  None of that seems fair. But it is human nature to want to impose a sense of justice in the world. Continue reading →

Currently, women outnumber men in U.S. college classrooms.  Women also outpace men in college completion in the U.S.  In fact, women now account for 60% of all Bachelor degree holders in the U.S.  Women also continue to increase their participation in the labor force.  This is great for businesses and even better for the nation’s economy.  However, while the Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires that men and women in the U.S. be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment, it seems that neither the educational level nor quantity of women in the workforce has resulted in ‘equal’ pay and opportunities for women.  The most common statistic cited is that women earn .78 cents for every dollar a man earns.  That is certainly not equal.  This disparity is pervasive from entry level positions all the way to the top.  According to CNN Money, 14.2% of the top five leadership positions at S&P Fortune 500 companies are held by women.  Of those 500 companies, just 24 have female CEOs (less than 5%).  And of the top 200 best paid CEOs in America in 2014, 13 were women (6.5%).  There weren’t any females among the top 10 best-paid CEOs, and only two women (Marissa Mayer at Yahoo and Martine Rothblatt at United Therapeutics) were among the top 50 best-paid CEOs.  Of those that did make it to the top spot, the average pay for the top female CEOs in the U.S. in 2014 was $20 million, 11.5% less than the $22.6 million for the overall average. Continue reading →