In an age of perceived equality among all races and genders, it is interesting that a portion of the work force still experience under appreciation, according to a recently released study.

Just under a quarter of female employees still feel they are not on a level playing field with their male counter parts, revealed the CareerBuilder.ca survey.

To put things into perspective, the average salary in 2005 for a full-time employee was $44,435 according to the 2006 Census conducted by Statistics Canada. When the salaries are separated, the discrepancy between men and women is instantly evident. Men made an average salary of $50,238, while women made an average of $38,111.

Breaking things down further, the professions which had the largest gaps were:

• Securities agents, investment dealers and brokers ($79,073 for males versus $43,765 for females);
• Labourers in chemical products and processing and utilities ($49,030 vs. $28,677); and
• Retail salespeople and sale clerks ($39,075 vs. $23,907).

Many fields pay both sexes roughly the same amount, with men holding a slight edge. However, only one field, according to the Census, shows women being paid more. That field is Post-secondary teaching and research assistants ($23,500 for men and $32,040 for women).

Recently, Forbes magazine ranked the highest-paid Chief Executive Officers in the United States. They revealed that the top earning female CEO for 2007 was Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo., at $12.7 million a year, with Andrea Jung of Avon Products next on the list at $12 million.

Those are impressive numbers; however, consider that the totals ranked Nooyi and Jung, 139th and 152nd, on the Forbes top earning CEOs list, respectively.

The top two earning male CEOs in the U.S. are Lawrence J. Ellison of Oracle at over $192 million and Frederic M. Poses of Trane at just over $127 million a year.

Focusing away from monetary factors, 19 per cent of female workers say that they do not have the same career advancement possibilities as their male counterparts. Furthermore, 16 per cent of women believe that male workers have more job flexibility than they do.

"Employers are constantly looking at ways to make their workplaces more balanced, however, this survey indicates that they still have some work ahead of them," said Remy Piazza, managing director of CareerBuilder Canada.

Respondents also thought the following:

• Males earn more money because of the notion that they need to support their family (41 per cent);
• Men are more aggressive when it comes to asking for a higher wage (36 per cent);
• Men get better projects, which are more important (33 per cent);
• For some reason, males are thought to be favoured (30 per cent);
• Men are more buddy-buddy with their bosses (25 per cent).

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