The federal government is being urged to tackle a $1 billion a week gender pay gap between Australian men and women which is being driven by a lack of females in executive management positions, a new KPMG report finds.

The analysis quantifies for the first time the impact of the glass ceiling, showing that the gender pay gap widens from 6 per cent among the lowest paid Australians to 18 per cent among the executive class – the 20 per cent of highest-paid workers.