Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods is highest-paid woman CEO

Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods was the highest paid female executive in 2009 and one of 15 women chief executive officers on the annual list of the heads of the 500 biggest companies in the US, according to Forbes.com. Rosenfeld, 56, jumped to the top slot by nearly tripling her compensation package to $16.7 million. She had the third highest pay last year.

Andrea Jung, of Avon Products, fell to fifth place, with $9.1 million, versus first place last year, when she had a total one-year compensation of $11.8 million.

"Women are being paid on their current business performance, in salary and bonus, and yielding on long-term wealth accumulation opportunities," said Pearl Meyer, a senior managing director at executive compensation firm Steven Hall & Partners.

Still, women account for only 3 per cent of the chief executives at the helm of the biggest 500 US companies, a statistic that has not changed much over the last three years.

Susan Ivey, of tobacco company Reynolds American, came in second at $11.8 million, followed by Carol Meyrowitz of retail chain TJX Cos with $11.1 million, Indian-born Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo at $10.7 million and Andrea Jung.

Debra A Cafaro, of real estate investment trust Ventas, which owns hospitals and medical offices and could benefit from the healthcare reform bill, came in at No 7 in the list of highest-paid female executives.