Work harder to move slowly upward. In Bermuda, one of the most expensive places to live in the world, local female residents are working harder than ever just to stay ahead of the inflation curve.

Add the additional demands of feeding a family on any kind of a budget, education and day care costs, high rent/mortgage household costs, elder care social responsibilities, career focus initiatives, personal health maintenance and you have an exhausted group of individuals at the end of each week.

It has never been easy to work as career female professional while juggling other roles within a family circle.

And whether we as a society want to admit it or not, it is a documented fact that women in the workplace work longer hours, both at work and home, and are still on average paid less, promoted less frequently than their male counterparts, and have less opportunity to reach the top management tiers - in some fields.

Consider recent statistics compiled by the US Business and Professional Women's Organisation.

101 Facts on the Status of Working Women - 2005, here are a selected few.

Women in the US labour force

• 60 percent of women participate in the US labour force, and they represent 47 percent of the total labour force.

• Nearly three-quarters of all mothers were in the labour force

• 22 percent of women age 50+ who are currently working never plan to retire because of income concerns

The Wage Gap

• In the year 2004, full-time working women were paid only about 76 cents for every dollar paid to men.

• Over the course of her career, the average woman loses approximately $523,000 to the wage gap.

• Many of the widest pay gaps occur in the best paid jobs with the most highly educated workers. Among physicians and surgeons, the highest-paid occupation for men and women, women earned 63 percent of what men did. This was the same ratio for female and male CEOs. Female lawyers earned 74 percent of what male lawyers earned.

• Women are less likely than men to receive additional compensation in forms other than salary (e.g., performance bonuses, stock options, profit sharing).

Women in the Fortune 500 Companies

• In 2002 in the Fortune 500 companies, women held 16 percent of the corporate officer positions compared to 13 percent in 2000. It is estimated that women will hold 27 percent of all corporate officer positions by 2020.

• In 2002, there were six women chief executive officers in the Fortune 500 (1.2 percent).

• Industries with the highest percentage of women corporate officers in 2002 included temporary help (35 percent), insurance (31 percent), and tobacco (30 percent).

Women and Higher Education

• Today women earn more than half of all bachelors degrees.

• Females with graduate degrees earn only slightly more than males with no college and only a high school diploma.

Women's Buying Power

• Three in 10 working women (29 percent) make all or almost all of their family's income

• Six in 10 (62 percent) earn about half of their family's income.

• Women are major players in consumer markets, and they are thoughtful about how they spend their money. Quality is the most important factor to women when making a major purchase, followed by price and service.

Women and Families

• Four in 10 working women work multiple jobs: evenings, nights, or weekends on a regular basis, and 33 percent work shifts different than their spouses or partners.

• The labour force participation rate of married mothers was 69 percent in 2002, and the rate for single mothers with children under 18 was 72 percent.

Women and Care Giving

l Approximately 75 percent of those providing care to older family members and friends are female

• Additionally, female care givers spend 50 percent more time providing care than male care givers.

• Employed care givers are more likely to miss work, experience a loss in productivity, lose a job or career opportunity, experience negative economic impacts, use less of their vacation or sick time for rest or relaxation, and experience decreased time for social life, and they are two to three times more likely to develop depression.

Domestic Violence and the Workplace

• Homicide is the leading cause of injury death for women in the workplace.

• Of women who are victims of domestic violence, 96 percent experience problems at work due to abuse, 74 percent are harassed while at work by their abuser, 56 percent are late to work, 28 percent leave work early, and 54 percent miss entire days of work.

Women and Retirement

• Two of three women are in jobs that do not provide adequate retirement benefits.

• Women's pensions are half that for men.

• In 2003, women's average monthly Social Security benefits were $798, compared to average monthly benefits of $1,039 for men.

Women's Health

l Employer-provided health insurance is of major importance to 95 percent of working women.

• 59 percent of uninsured women and 42 percent of women in fair or poor health say they delay or go without health care because they cannot afford it

These are very concerning US statistics. Does Bermuda have similar documented statistics? I am not sure of that fact, but encourage readers to write me (confidentially) of course, disproving these samplings.

In Bermuda, there have been comments and articles over the last few years regarding the increased visibility of local female residents in the workforce.

If you read these facts above, and relate even half of them to our demographic group, it is understandable that women not only must be in the workforce, but are working extremely hard to contribute to the social infrastructure of our community.

With women, statistically, living longer than ever before, what will be their status as retirees if indeed, they reach the golden age with smaller pensions, less health benefits, less savings, still primary care givers and continued family responsibilities?

Look for the next article in this series. Please write to me with your career concerns.

Martha Harris Myron CPA CFP(tm) is a Wealth Manager at Argus Financial Limited where she specialises in financial life planning and objective investment advisory services for individuals and their businesses, corporations, and endowments.

The article expresses the opinion of the author alone. It cannot be considered specific financial advice, nor can it be relied upon for any specific situation, nor as an endorsement for any product. The editor reserves the right to change format and content.