With gender gap, a question on sexism

THE latest gender-gap study on directors' salaries at Singapore Exchange-listed companies raises the question if sexism can explain why women are still significantly underpaid.

Last Wednesday, NUS Business School's Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations released the findings of its study on gender-pay differences in 199 SGX-listed companies. It was found that female directors of these firms earned 56.8 per cent of male directors' remuneration on average, indicating a gender pay gap of 43.2 per cent, with the widest gaps found in large firms with a market value of more than S$1 billion.

The gap is reflected in the annual average director remuneration of S$209,265 for female directors in all SGX-listed companies and S$368,589 for male directors. The study didn'…