An advertisement that appeared in The Royal Gazette yesterday was ordered to be changed by the Human Rights Commission after officials there decided it was discriminatory.

The notice, which according to the firm that placed it, has been appearing in the same format in the paper for years, was looking for a live-in couple to take up residence at a Point Shares, Pembroke residence as housekeeper and gardener. The problem is it specified that the individuals applying for the jobs should be a woman and a man respectively.

It said: "The successful applicants should be a married couple with proven experience."

While that kind of specification is not against the law, since the couple would be living on the same premises as the landlords, the advert then goes on to refer to the "the Housekeeper (Wife)" and "the Gardener/Handyperson (Husband)."

A spokeswoman for the law firm that placed the advert, Hollis and Co said the ad format had been running in the paper for "a couple of years" for different clients but they had never before had any complaints about it.

But she said the ad was not intended to be discriminatory and added that if it was indeed against the law, the necessary changes would be made to it.

The spokeswoman said that the specifications of gender were present in the advert only because it was generally accepted that those roles are usually filled by people of those sexes.

"If there is going to be a problem with it then we will take the words `wife' and `husband' out of it."

Yesterday, when notified about it by this reporter, Human Rights Commission executive officer David Wilson declined to comment on the matter.

But it is understood that, since The Royal Gazette is also responsible for ensuring adverts conform to legal standards, officials called the paper to ensure that the offending words would not appear again.

No legal action is going to be taken against the paper because yesterday was the last day that the advert was due to run for those clients.