The newest report from the Workplace Gender Equity Agency, released on Wednesday, shows the public service is rapidly closing the gap on pay parity with a male-favoured pay gap of 6.4 per cent for 2023, down from 13.5 per cent the previous year.

But while that is a big improvement – and hits the private sector’s 21.8 per cent discrepancy out of the park – it means women employed by the state are earning 94¢ for every dollar earned by male colleagues, even though they comprise 55 per cent of the Commonwealth public sector workforce. That shakes out at $8200 per year.