Women earn pots but men get more

Women account for about 52% of the SA population and slightly more than 45% of the labour force, but even the richest women in SA still languish far behind their male counterparts when it comes to earnings and wealth.

Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll was the highest-paid woman in SA in 2010. Although she earned 5% less than in 2009, Carroll was paid a hearty R21.9-million last year for her role as CEO of Anglo American and non-executive chairman of Anglo Platinum. This included her basic salary of R12.6-million at Anglo American and a performance bonus of R4.6-million.

But compared to the highest-earning men in SA, Carroll's remuneration does not look that impressive.

She is only 26th on the list of the highest earners of 2010 and is way down in the 453th position on the comprehensive Rich List, with R18.22-million worth of listed investments.

Just like Carroll, Martha Wikstrom, a non-executive director at the luxury goods group Richemont, is not a South African national, but her involvement with a company of SA origin puts her on the list of SA's biggest earners.

Wikstrom was the second-best paid woman in SA last year, taking home R13.19-million. On the total list of highest earners, Wikstrom is in 64th position.

Third on the list of top female earners, and the first SA-born woman on the list, is Yolanda Cuba, former CEO of the Mvelaphanda Group.

When she was appointed head of Tokyo Sexwale's group in 2007 at the age of 29, Cuba was the youngest CEO of all JSE-listed companies. Since then Mvelaphanda Group has unbundled most of its interests and Cuba resigned at the end of last year.

Still, she was paid R10.45-million by the relatively small Mvelaphanda investment group last year, when it was well down the road of ceasing to operate save for disposing of its assets. She also got almost R1-million for her nonexecutive directorships at Absa, Avusa and Mvelaphanda Resources. Cuba's total remuneration for last year was R11.5-million, 83% more than in 2009, placing her 81st on the total list of big earners.

Maria Ramos, CEO of Absa, was the fourth highest-earning woman in SA last year. Her total remuneration of R11.11-million, an increase of 34% from the previous year, included her basic salary of R6.52-million as boss of Absa and a performance bonus of R4.55-million from the bank.

Ramos was 87th on the total list of big earners, ahead of Standard Bank CEO Jacko Maree in the 206th position, but still trailing FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana in the 74th position and Nedbank CEO Mike Brown, who was 28th on the list of big earners in 2010.

In 2009 Ramos was paid R160000 as a non-executive director of Remgro. While she no longer serves on the Remgro board, she was recently nominated for selection to the board of Richemont, which could see her move up the earnings list next year.

The fifth top earning woman is Bertina Engelbrecht, human resources director of Clicks Group. Engelbrecht's total remuneration of R10.09-million was 260% up from 2009 and included an impressive performance bonus of R7.03-million.

Khanyi Ntsaluba, the former financial director of Mvelaphanda Resources, was paid R10.07-million last year, placing her sixth on the list of female earners. This was 685% more than in 2009, while Mvelaphanda Resources' headline earnings per share fell by 99% between 2009 and 2010.

Nicky Newton-King, who will take the reins as the first female CEO of the JSE next year, was 20th on the list of female earners thanks to the R3.99-million she was paid last year as deputy CEO of the stock exchange.

The JSE's chief operating officer, Leanne Parsons, was 22nd after earning R3.64-million. Freda Evans, the stock exchange's chief financial officer, was 27th after being paid R2.75-million last year.

Although she is only in the 165th position on the list of top female earners of 2010, Sharon Wapnick, a non-executive director at Octodec Investments and Premium Properties, is the richest woman in SA, according to the Business Times Rich List.

Her holdings, worth R330.37-million in these two companies, place her 74th on the list of richest people in SA, the only woman in the top-100 list, and more than 20 places up from last year's 95th position.

The second richest woman, Aspen Pharmacare non-executive director Judy Dlamini, trails Wapnick by almost 100 positions in 173rd place, with listed holdings of R103.96-million.

The third richest woman is also a non-executive company director. Nonhlanhla Mayiza, who holds that position at construction group Wilson Bayley Holmes-Ovcom (WBHO), is worth R70.95-million thanks to her 1% share in WBHO.