Salary Discrimination: A Test of the Paradoxical Female Hypothesis

Several researchers have suggested that females are less sensitive than males to conditions of salary underpayment and have coined the term paradoxical female. To test the hypothesis addressing the paradoxical female and to examine reactions of females and males within competing models for pay satisfaction, a random sample of chief financial officers was selected and assessed. Results indicate that female chief financial officers, unlike male chief financial officers, receiving less than their entitled salaries enjoyed the same level of pay satisfaction as both female and male chief financial officers receiving more than their entitled salaries. Pay satisfaction, as defined by a referent source, was found to vary by gender of chief financial officers and to follow a linear, as opposed to a curvilinear, model.