So Much for Stepford Shareholders and Submissive Boards

Dylan Matthews is writing Wonkbook while Ezra is on vacation. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to announce the Fed's course of action in a speech Friday. Meanwhile, despite FinReg, banks will still be allowed to make risky bets that could destabilize the economy at large. And the SEC has adopted new rules giving shareholders greater power in electing corporate board members, in a move that could serve as a check on executives. Welcome to Wonkbook. Top Stories

A man and a women start their careers in the same role, at the same company on the same day. They are promoted at the same time, achieve the same level of seniority and retire at identical moments. How much more did the man earn? The answer, at least according to a poll of 38,843 executives conducted by the Chartered Management Institute late last year, is £423,390. The higher up the ladder you climb, the bigger the pay differential too, with female directors earning an average salary of £127,257, £14,689 less than males in equivalent roles.

The latest report from the Cranfield International Centre for Women Leaders shows that in the first six months since the last report (March 2012), the pace of change was extremely encouraging with 44% of new FTSE 100 board appointments going to women and 36% on FTSE 250 companies. However, those high levels were short-lived and over the past six months they have dropped to 26% and 29% respectively, showing a considerable gap from the 33% required to reach Lord Davies’ recommendation of 25% women on boards by 2015.

Women make up half of the workforce, yet they're still hugely underrepresented on corporate boards. 

NABLUS, West Bank — A Palestinian fertility doctor claimed Wednesday that he has used prisoners’ sperm smuggled out of Israeli jails to help their wives have babies, and that five women have become pregnant so far. Despite unlikely odds and difficult conditions, a fertility expert said the claims could be plausible. There are about 4,500 Palestinians in Israeli jails, serving sentences for offenses ranging from stone throwing to killing Israeli civilians.