Women working in the county earn almost a third less than their male counterparts.

Despite years of campaigning by equal rights groups, the average woman employed full-time in Kent still brings home thousands of pounds less every year than the average man.

The difference, of around £9,000 a year, equates to £346,920 over a 40-year career - or 26 new Mini Coopers!

• See how your area fares in our graphic below. The figures - which do not include men or women employed part-time - were published in a survey by the Office of National Statistics.

Shockingly, the pay gap has actually widened in the past year - since 2007, women working here now earn an extra £250 less than men.

The difference for men and women resident the county but working either here or elsewhere are even larger - the gap has widened by almost £2,000 to £14,332.

Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "In these tough economic times, everyone will be counting the pounds and pence. These figures show women in particular are feeling the pinch.

"The pay gap highlights a wider failure - Britain's failure to work better. Women who want or need flexibility often find they have to trade down. Many of the well-paid, high-status jobs are stuck in an inflexible 1950s mould designed for an era when men worked and women stayed at home."

Overall, the best place to earn money as a man is Dartford, where male employees can expect to earn an average annual income of £38,296.

However, the richest men in the county live in the Sevenoaks area, with the average male earning a staggering £52,889.

For women, the best place to earn a bit of cash in Kent is Tunbridge Wells - where the average woman nets around £26,328 anually, although the richest women living in the county join their male counterparts in Sevenoaks, earning a cool £44,010 on average per year.

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Sarah Veale, a commissioner at the Women's National Commission blames the gap on two main principles: the pay rate tending to be higher amongst typically male jobs and the belief amongst some employers still that women aren't the principle breadwinners and are simply supplementing their husband's income.

She said: "It's very disheartening because often the actual value to society of the two jobs may be equal, or it may even be that the value to society of a typically female job may be higher - for instance, the role of a care worker compared to that of someone who puts a car together."

The pay gap is very different depending on where you are in Kent. In Shepway, male employees earned almost £15,000 more than females but, in Swale there was only a £4,000 difference.

Alyson Howard, director of Meta Corporate Finance Limited, based in Pembury, and a female advocate entrepreneur for the south east region puts this down to the different types of businesses in each area.

She said: "I suspect it may well be is that the women might be more likely to working locally because of family obligations and thus percentage wise we have a higher proportion of men at senior level, because the women aren't in the seniour roles, that overall distorts the figures."

Sarah Veale warns that the pay gap will never close until companies become more transparent about pay.

She said: "All employers should be made to publish what they pay people so that you can see for yourself whether you're being paid less than a man who's doing a job of equivalent value."