There is still a huge pay gap between men and women even at the

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top rung, as a survey has highlighted that the average take home salary of a female director on board is 50 per cent less than her male counterparts.

Quoting a study by the Reward Technology Forum (RTF), the Telegraph said "the average female board director took home 178,246 pound in salary, bonuses, benefits and pension contributions in the 2008-09 financial year, while the average male director received 357,358 pound."

However, this discrepancy might be because of the fact that a majority of women on company boards were non-executive directors who are paid less than executives, RTF said adding that of the 218 female board members in the FTSE 350, 83 per cent or 181 of them

are non-executives.

Peter Newhouse, an independent pay consultant and part of RTF told Telegraph that the outcome of the study highlighted the lack of senior female executive management in the UK and created a major discrepancy in pay.

The RTF report also pointed out that even in cases where women executive directors are on higher salaries than men, they still take home less money overall because they are losing out when it comes to other benefits including bonuses.

Quoting Newhouse, the daily said "even when women hold executive positions, there is a discrepancy between their average salaries and their bonus and benefits packages. It cannot be explained by company size, as smaller firms would typically offer smaller salaries as well as fewer benefits."