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A newly released survey has revealed persistent gender disparities in government pay scales, showing that female employees in Australia's federal public sector earn only AU$0.86 for every AU$1 earned by their male colleagues.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has found that there was a 13.5% pay disparity in 2022, based on data from an investigation of 116 public sector enterprises in the Commonwealth and the private sector, the disparity is still bigger at 21.7%, The Guardian reported.

Men were 2.5 times more likely than women to be in the top quartile of income in the public sector, whereas the ratio was 1.9 times greater in the private sector.

"Imbalance in non-management occupations is a key driver of the gender pay gap and an area for focus for future improvement," the report said, as per ABC. "Highly-paid non-manager roles are dominated by men and lower-paid non-manager roles are dominated by women."

Data on gender pay gaps from 5,000 large Australian firms was made public a few months back. It showed a 19% median discrepancy, meaning that women earn AU$18,461 less yearly than males. The construction industry accounts for 31.8% of all industries, while lodging and food services make up 1.9%. Minister Katy Gallagher calls for transparency to effect change, pointing to the AU$51.8 billion yearly impact.

The CEO of WGEA, Mary Wooldridge, emphasized how the research may provide companies with the tools they need to take meaningful action to close the gender pay gap.

"The scorecard shows the Commonwealth public sector has benefited from clearly articulated commitments and sector-wide reforms in areas the private sector finds difficult to change, such as gender balance in management positions,'' Wooldridge said.

"Commonwealth public sector employers are also taking actions to deliver flexibility that helps empower more women to take leadership roles and drives gender balance in key management positions.''

In 2022, there were still issues with gender equality in Australia's public sector, as seen by the low rate of male parental leave take-up and the scarcity of part-time managing possibilities.

Improved possibilities for part-time workers to progress in their careers and stronger regulations around parental leave were highlighted by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.

According to reports, the WGEA found that a larger percentage of full-time female employment in the industry was attributed to flexible work arrangements.