US: Trans woman named highest-paid female executive
A trans woman who heads a biotech firm has been named as the highest-paid female executive in the US.
Martine Rothblatt is the founder and CEO of United Therapeutics Corp – worth an estimated $6 billlion – which is attempting to find a cure for pulmonary hypertension, a blood pressure condition affecting the lungs.
Earning $36 million (£22 million) a year, she beats out every other female executive in the US.
Speaking to Yahoo, she blamed a “pervasive hangover from thousands of years of patriarchy” for the lack of other female CEOs – and said that being transgender was in some ways an advantage.
She said: “One of the unique insights I have is a huge appreciation for all of the privileges I received as a man.
“As the oldest son I was expected to do great things, but so many times it’s the oldest son that gets that encouragement and not the oldest daughter.
“Those things kind of percolate and when all is said and done, only 11 of [the 200 highest paid] CEOs are women because of that.
“We need to start by educating our kids and society as a whole that a person’s productivity and what they accomplish should not be judged differently because they are female or male.”
Ms Rothblatt, who is also a lawyer and has written extensively on trans issues, wrote in 1995: “There are five billion people in the world and five billion unique sexual identities.
“Genitals are as irrelevant to one’s role in society as skin tone. The legal division of people into males and females is as wrong as the legal division of people into black and white races.”
