Women working full time in the U.S. still earn substantially less than men. In the second quarter of 2026, women’s median weekly earnings were $1,131, or 82% of men’s $1,380 median, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But in one of corporate America’s most powerful executive jobs, the gap has flipped, and it’s widening.
Women serving as general counsel at the largest publicly traded U.S. companies were paid about 16% more than their male counterparts in 2025. The figure comes from Equilar’s annual General Counsel Pay Trends report, produced with legal executive search firm BarkerGilmore. That premium nearly doubled from 8.5% a year earlier, Bloomberg first reported.
The analysis covers the Equilar 500, a group of the largest U.S. public companies by revenue. It draws on annual regulatory disclosures for so-called named executive officers, typically the CEO, the CFO, and the three highest-paid executives beyond those roles.
Female general counsel received a median base salary of $672,000 and roughly $2.3 million in stock awards. Men received a median salary of $657,000 and $1.9 million in equity.
Stock awards did most of the work, with women proving more successful at securing larger equity grants. That marks a reversal: in Equilar’s previous report, men had led women on stock awards even as women came out ahead on total pay.
“The magnitude of the difference is notable, particularly because female general counsel out-earned male general counsel across every major compensation component in 2025,” said John Gilmore, cofounder and managing partner of BarkerGilmore, in a Q&A published alongside the report.
Gilmore cautioned against reading the data as evidence that gender itself drives compensation. He said general counsel pay reflects factors including company size, industry, experience, and the structure of incentive plans. He attributed the shift in part to a growing number of highly accomplished women reaching the top legal job at major corporations, along with stiff competition among companies for proven female legal executives.
Fewer women are getting the job
The pay premium comes as women’s foothold in the role weakens. Between 2020 and 2024, the share of Equilar 500 general counsel roles held by women fell from 34.9% to 33.5%, according to Equilar’s 2025 report. Gilmore noted that women’s share of the role dipped slightly again in 2025.
There are bright spots. Women held 45.6% of public company board seats as general counsel in 2025, close to parity.
A rare exception to a broader trend
The results stand out because they run counter to pay patterns almost everywhere else. The BLS found that men working full time out-earned women in every major occupational group in the second quarter of 2026. In management, professional, and related occupations, the highest-paying category, men’s median weekly earnings were $1,928, compared with $1,476 for women.
Even within the Equilar study, the general counsel role stands out. Across the five highest-paid executive positions at the companies analyzed, men earned more than women overall.
Part of what makes the general counsel job so lucrative is how much it has grown. Median general counsel compensation at Equilar 500 companies rose from $2.8 million in 2020 to $3.4 million in 2024, a 20.5% increase. Equilar attributed the rise to the increasing weight of legal, regulatory, and strategic responsibilities. Stock awards have grown 30.9% since 2021, faster than any other component of general counsel pay. Gilmore said companies now expect their top lawyers to weigh in on issues like AI governance, cybersecurity, and geopolitical risk, not just legal matters.
Progress at the top remains uneven
Women remain underrepresented in many of corporate America’s most senior positions.
A record 55 women lead Fortune 500 companies in 2026, Fortune reported in June. That’s 11% of the list, the highest share in its 72-year history.
Other research suggests progress isn’t linear. Grant Thornton’s Women in Business 2026 report found that women hold 31% of senior leadership roles at U.S. companies, down from 34% in 2025 and 35% in 2024.
Taken together, the data points to a split picture for women in corporate law’s top job. Women who reach the general counsel chair are paid more than the men who hold it, and the gap is growing. The harder problem may be getting more of them there.
