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Is the Gender Pay Gap in Private Equity Shrinking?

As the leader in private company and investment firm compensation data, J. Thelander Consulting’s data is commonly used by many publications to examine the current landscape of the industry. 

Dan Primack from Axios used our data to examine the gender pay gap in private equity. We’ve included the article below.

Private equity’s gender pay gap is shrinking, but remains pronounced at the top levels of larger firms, according to J. Thelander Consulting data shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: Parity is the goal. And please don’t bother with emails telling me why it shouldn’t be.

Private equity’s gender pay gap is shrinking, but remains pronounced at the top levels of larger firms, according to J. Thelander Consulting data shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: Parity is the goal. And please don’t bother with emails telling me why it shouldn’t be.

Survey says: Jody Thelander tells me that her consultancy has data on more than 1,700 investment firms, including the private equity and venture capital shops within this particular cohort.

  • Its big finding is that the gender gap grows alongside AUM and job title, in terms of both cash and carry.

By the numbers: Senior associates at both small and large firms are around equal on cash at the 50th percentile, 75th percentile and the max.

  • Senior managing directors/partners of firms with <$1 billion of AUM see 75% percentile cash of $610,000 for men and $515,000 for women, with equal carry as percentages of total comp. But the max for this cohort of men is $1.9 million in cash with higher carry than women, whose cash maxes out at $950k.
  • The gap rises for senior managing directors/partners of firms with >$1b in AUM, with a max cash gap of over $1.6 million.
  • At the top levels for the largest firms, the 75% percentile gap was around $500,000 in cash for 2022 — down from over $800,000 in 2021. The max gap is also lower year-over-year.

Note: No one in this data set is crying poor, as all the numbers crush median household income figures. But if there’s this much money to go around, it should go around.

The bottom line: “I do believe at some point the gender gap will disappear because women will keep becoming more integral parts of the private equity and venture capital ecosystems,” Thelander says. “There’s also increasing transparency on pay, from surveys like ours, which helps to level the playing field.”

Thelander is the only firm that covers the entire private capital market from your investment firm to your portfolio companies compensation. Did you enjoy our Thelander Digest, have ideas for future ones, or want to learn more about how J.Thelander Consulting can help you make informed decisions when it comes to hiring, incentivizing, and retaining talent? Email us here or give us a call at 305-793-8605. We love to hear from you!

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