Female Executives Confront the Equity Pay Gap

The latest paradox for female executives is that the higher they climb the corporate ladder, the worse the pay disparity becomes, due largely to receiving smaller equity grants than their male counterparts. Now, one woman who has experienced this problem firsthand is teaching others how to close the gap.

Brooke Harley, an executive in the early days at Lululemon Athletica Inc., last month rolled out an eight-hour, $99 class on negotiating the equity portion of annual compensation through her education startup ClassRebel. She credits her personal fortune to her insistence on getting double the stock options she was offered at the athletic clothing retailer. Harley isn’t alone. Carta, an equity management platform, launched a similar class in late March that has attracted 80,000 people, the company said.