We live in a world where women are constantly battling to prove their worth and professionalism in order to reach their career goals. Despite it being 2018, women are still sitting in minority positions and oftentimes are being paid less than their male counterparts.

Despite this being the norm there are a few women who are breaking the glass ceiling for the female population. Fortune 500 has seen many females take on CEO roles in the past few years; many of which are now being looked at as idols.

The recipe to becoming a female CEO varies, however. We’ve analysed the top female CEOs’ education, age they became CEO, the industry they work in, their earnings and their current age, to then work out the characteristics they have and if there is a certain trend that appears between them.

With recent news coming out that Indra Nooyi is stepping down as CEO for PepsiCo after 12 years in the top job and also a new female CEO entering the Fortune 500 businesses, it is clear that females are deserving to be in these roles. So let’s take a look at how the female CEO’s got to where they are now and the ingredients that are needed to conquer these roles.

The youngest CEOs in the top Fortune 500 are Patti Poppe (49) CEO of CMS Energy and Joey Wat (47) CEO of Yum China. Despite both having MBA’s and Masters degrees they only became CEO at the ages of 47.

As a CEO you’d think they earn quite a bit of money, so who earned the most in 2017? Let’s take a look:

1. Safra A. Catz – $40.7 million
2. Indra Nooyi – $25.9 million
3. Mary Barra – $21.9 million
4. Phebe Novakovic – $21.2 million
5. Lynn Good – $21.1 million

With many of these women working in the energy industry, it’s clear to see they earn a lot of money annually. But, what education did they have to get under their belts to have that sort of cash coming in?

Many of them studied at the likes of Washington, Stanford, Alabama and Pennsylvania University’s and didn’t just stop at Undergraduate degrees like the majority of people do. No, they went on and continued to learn in specific courses and partook in MBA (Master of Business Administration) and Masters degrees.

To see all the Fortune 500 female CEOs and the age they became CEO, their education, the university they attended and the industry they work in, take a look at the full piece here.

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Writer: Roxanne Bracknell 

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