Women who worked full-time, year-round earned 76 cents for every dollar earned by their male peers in 2003, down from 77 cents in 2002, according to a survey by the National Association for Female Executives.

Betty Spence, president of the association, says that even a penny difference adds up over an entire year, and argues that more employers should adopt family friendly policies such as paid family leave and conduct audits to ensure pay equity to help combat the gender gap in wages.

Some highly educated women face even larger wage gaps, according to the survey. Women anesthesiologists, for example, earned $64,000 less than male colleagues did in 2003.

The Census Bureau also found a slight widening of the wage gap. The bureau reported that 2003 marked the the first time the wage gap between men and women grew since the period between 1998 and 1999.