Women at Top--Almost : Compensation: A Times survey indicates that only 3% of the top five jobs in California corporations are held by women. That’s one reason that the highest-paid woman made one-fiftieth of what the highest-paid man commanded.

When Marion Sandler was starting out on Wall Street 34 years ago, she told her boss that she eventually wanted to become a partner.

“They laughed,” she said. “In those days, there was no beating around the bush. It was very clear a woman couldn’t become a partner.”

Sandler, at least, has come a long way. She’s now co-chief executive of Golden West Financial Corp. in Oakland, a company she and her husband built up after acquiring it in 1963. Last year, she was the highest-paid woman executive of any publicly held company in California, according to The Times’ annual salary survey.

But Sandler also underscores how far women have to go to reach the upper echelons of management. Her advice to ambitious women: “Buy the company or start your own.”

Women make up less than 3% of the top five managers at the 500 largest California public companies surveyed by The Times.

And although the highest-earning man--Walt Disney Co. President Frank G. Wells--pulled down compensation of more than $50 million, Sandler earned $1.1 million. She was also the only woman in the $1-million club, compared to 166 men. The next-best-paid woman earned $613,602--not enough to make a list of the 250 highest-paid executives in the state.

The Times survey has its limitations. It counts only executives who rank among the five most highly compensated officers at publicly held corporations. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to disclose these salaries. Women who work for private companies, or who don’t rank among the top five officers at public companies, are not included.

But that alone illustrates how far women have to go in the corporate hierarchy. Of more than 2,300 executives surveyed, fewer than 50 were women.

None of these statistics comes as a surprise to Sandler.

“When I go to industry meetings, I don’t see other women and I don’t see them on the programs,” Sandler said. “It is still tough for women to make it. You have to be in the right place at the right time. And you have to be terribly talented--a lot better than the (male) competition.”

By now, many of the reasons for the dearth of high-ranking women executives are familiar.

Blatant discrimination, for one. Some top managers have favored men with the biggest raises and the best promotions. “Earlier in my consulting career, I had people saying to me that ‘We gave Tom a $100 raise and Susan a $50 increase because Tom has a family to support,’ ” said Michael O. McCullough, principal at William M. Mercer Inc. in Los Angeles.

Women often got neither the training nor the opportunities to rise into upper management. Many also opted to stay home and raise families or accepted jobs with less responsibility that gave them the flexibility to assume traditional roles at home.

Women have frequently been channeled into “softer” executive positions: public relations and human resources. Although important, such jobs generally are not steppingstones to the top executive positions. Chief executives generally come from the ranks of officials in finance, sales or law.

Even today, some chief executives worry that women executives won’t be taken seriously by their male counterparts, compensation consultants say.

“I have seen some executives being concerned about putting a woman in a senior executive role because of how the market might perceive it,” said Fred Whittlesey, senior manager at KPMG Peat Marwick’s compensation consulting group in Los Angeles. “I don’t think there is any conscious conspiracy to under-pay women or keep them out of executive positions, but there may be some subconscious concern by the old guard of what outsiders and insiders will think.”

In fact, few executives are concerned about whether they deal with a man or a woman, said William Mortensen, chairman and chief executive of FirstFed Financial Corp., a Santa Monica-based thrift with $2.6 billion in assets. Two women executives at FirstFed were on the list of the 10 most highly compensated in California. The company’s president, Babette Heimbuch, earned $270,656 and Joan Little, executive vice president and chief lending officer, got $225,101.

“The myths seem to be just that,” Mortensen said. “If anything, I’ve sensed a positive perception of having a woman executive in meetings with securities analysts. When the woman is professional and smart, I think it actually gives them an edge. It is refreshing to meet a woman who knows every bit as much about finance and Wall Street as an investment banker.”

Industry consultants also believe that women have begun to overcome many traditional hurdles. Blatant discrimination is hard to find, and it is easier for women to get training. While it once was relatively rare for women to enroll in MBA and law programs, they now make up close to half the graduates of these programs.

“We are getting the problem straightened out at the bottom of the pyramid, but it will take some time before those women find their ways to the top of corporations,” McCullough added.

Moreover, women occasionally are moving into senior-level spots that put them in line to be chief executive. Of the 10 most highly compensated women in the survey, Sandler is already a chief executive and three others are presidents. The rest are executive vice presidents, senior vice presidents and chief financial officers.

Generally, progress on promoting women is slower at Fortune 500 companies. Significant change may take decades. Smaller, more entrepreneurial firms tend to do better, largely because the corporate cultures are less tradition-bound, Whittlesey said.

In the long run, many more women will find their way into boardrooms and executive suites, said Carl D. Jacobs, senior consultant with William M. Mercer Inc. But women may never comprise as large a portion of the executive ranks as men simply because they often are more willing to suspend or sacrifice career advancement to fill traditional roles at home.

“Many of us would like to think we have an egalitarian society between men and women, but I don’t think we do,” Jacobs said. “This is a major issue that our country is grappling with, and it will probably continue to be an issue for some time.”

TOP-PAID WOMEN EXECUTIVES

1989 Total NAME TITLE COMPANY Comp. 1 Marion O. Sandler P CEO Golden West Financial 1,091,218 2 Jill E. Barad PS Mattel 613,602 3 Jane Shaw P COO Alza Corporation 550,911 4 Fredricka Taubitz EVP CFO Zenith National Insurance 436,721 5 Patricia N. Lowell EVP P Plaza Commerce Bancorp 374,040 6 April J. Morris VPF Standard Pacific 284,175 7 Kathryn A. Braun SVP Western Digital 325,741 8 Babette E. Heimbuch P CFO FirstFed Financial 270,656 9 Melanie May SVP Leisure Technology 234,319 10 Joan Little EVP FirstFed Financial 225,101

Salary Stock Stock Other NAME & Bonus Options Awards Comp. 1 Marion O. Sandler 665,357 425,861 None None 2 Jill E. Barad 520,710 None None 92,892 3 Jane Shaw 371,000 161,313 None 18,598 4 Fredricka Taubitz 425,000 None None 11,721 5 Patricia N. Lowell 371,000 None None 3,040 6 April J. Morris 262,300 21,875 None None 7 Kathryn A. Braun 255,365 70,376 None None 8 Babette E. Heimbuch 270,656 None None None 9 Melanie May 234,319 None None None 10 Joan Little 225,101 None None None

METHODOLOGY:

The charts were compiled by researcher Keating Holland of The Times’ bureau in Washington, D.C.

Information was derived from proxy statements and annual reports of approximately 500 publicly held California companies with revenues exceeding $20 million. The compensation of more than 2,300 executives was examined. In cases where benefits or stock gains were reported over periods exceeding one year, the number shown on the chart is an annual average.

In cases where 1989-90 proxy statements were not yet available, information is from the previous year’s proxy.

ABBREVIATIONS:

CEO--Chief executive officer

P--President

PS--President of a subsidiary

EVP--Executive vice president

SVP--Senior vice president

VPF--Vice president of finance

CFO--Chief financial officer

COO--Chief operating officer