Women working in the Federal public service earn on average 86 cents for every dollar men earn, according to a new report by Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

This equates to women earning $19,007 less than men a year, a 13.5 per cent disparity that is lower than the private sector gender pay gap of 21.7 per cent.

This is the first time private and public sectors have been compared, which is pertinent to Canberra, where the Federal public service accounts for 32 per cent of the ACT’s total workforce.

The WGEA report found the average federal female public servants earned $121,435 in 2022, while the average male employee made $140,442. By comparison, the average salaries of female and male private-sector workers were $95,165 and $121, 558 respectively.

The smaller pay gap is due to the public sector’s higher rates of full-time work (75 per cent) compared to the private sector (54 per cent).

WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said it showed that good policies alone did not translate into outcomes.

“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,” Ms Woolridge 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.”

The Federal public sector claims to be a leader in gender outcomes, according to its Australian Public Service Gender Equality Strategy 2021-26.

The strategy states that the Federal public sector has achieved gender parity in the senior executive service and the gender pay gap has reduced annually,

At the top level, the commonwealth pay gap is 0.3 per cent while the equivalent level in the private sector is 22.1 per cent. It should be noted, however, that men were 2.5 times more likely to be in the highest-paying quartile in the public sector.

Ms Woolridge praised Commonwealth public sector employers for delivering flexibility that helped empower more women to take leadership roles and drive gender balance in key management positions.

“But more does need to be done across all employers to continue to reduce the gender pay gap, including to combat stereotypes that deter men from taking parental leave and around women in non-manager roles,” she said.

WGEA Commonwealth Public Sector Gender Equality Scorecard | WGEA