Although the gap is narrowing women still earn less than men, even taking into account occupation and experience. And so it will remain unless women become more aggressive in demanding higher pay.

The warning was sounded by Capital G Bank CEO Sarah Farrington who said Bermuda?s women face the same salary challenges as their counterparts across the world.

According to the 2004 Employment Survey women earn a median income of less than $45,000 per year compared to men who rake in almost $50,000.

There are more than 3,500 men on the Island earning over $72,000 per year in personal income compared to just 2,171 women, while just 34 percent of the 429 people who owned or managed an incorporated company according to the year 2000 census were female.

Ms Farrington was speaking at the Organisation of Women In International Business (OWIT) seminar last week at XL Capital.

She said gender pay differences were a worldwide phenomenon and noted that while women in Bermuda have advanced into leadership positions in the work place, they still face challenges in reducing the pay gap.

Following the publication of a recent British survey by the Women And Work Commission (February 27, 2006), revealing that women in full-time employment currently earn 17 percent per hour less than men, Ms Farrington felt compelled to address gender pay gap issue.

She also cited an article from the November 2005 , stating that women in the greater European Union in full time employment earning 16 percent less than men and statistics on worldwide pay gaps and college graduates from the 2000 fall issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

?While women are now working full-time, women still have to take the leadership role in taking care of children and housework and this makes it difficult for women to dedicate themselves to their careers in the same way their male counterparts have,? Ms Farrington said. ?Women have made great advances in the latter half of the 20th century with barriers to education removed and women entering the medical and legal profession in the 1960s, but differences in pay between men and women have not been entirely removed.

?If you look at college graduates and look at males and females entering the workplace, the pay gap is very little but as people begin to progress throughout their careers, you find that women?s pay starts to fall away from their male counterparts.?

Ms Farrington said reasons for the gender pay gap include the types of professions historically filled by women have tended to be lower paying.

She also said women have historically taken breaks in their careers to have children which decreases their level of experience, consequently affecting their pay levels.

Ms Farrington said she has been fortunate that she has been able to devote herself to her career as her husband Simon stays at home to look after their three children.

To achieve higher levels of pay Ms Farrington said women must be more assertive as some studies have indicated that women are less likely to ask for more money or aggressively negotiate for higher salary increases during the recruitment process.

?When hiring I have asked women what salary they are looking for, often women have asked for a salary that?s much closer to the lower end of a salary range compared to their male counterparts who have more often asked for a salary that?s higher with that range.

?Women should not sell themselves short when applying for a position by failing to find out what the salary range is for the job.?

?Subtle stereotypes still exist, there are people in our community and all over the world who equate maleness with leadership and often in an interview setting it?s difficult to get past that.

?There are unconscious biases that people have that sometimes affect decisions they make regarding their expectations of women in a job.?

Ms Farrington said over time people will get used to women leaders and stereotypes will disappear and women will make inroads in narrowing the pay gap between men and women.