New official figures show that Australia’s finance and insurance sector has the largest discrepancies in pay between men and women, with men earning on average 29.3% more than women.

Across all industries, the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey found that on average men earn 18% more than women, after a rise of 0.8% in the past year. This is the largest gap seen since August 1994.

However, the figures fail to take into account legitimate reasons why women would be on lower salaries – such as choosing to take time off or combine part-time work to balance family responsibilities.

Specialist recruitment agency Insurance People says traditionally there have been a lot less women in senior roles in insurance, but this is changing.

With more women rising up the ranks, and with both men and women seeking greater flexibility in their work commitments, MD Glenn Arnold says he expects discrepancies in pay between men and women will decline in the near future.

“If we look purely at the older generation of managers in the insurance industry there is certainly an absence of women in senior management roles,” he said.

“But there are more Generation X females in management than there are Baby Boomers females in management… and there will probably be a whole lot more female Gen Y managers and leaders than there are Gen X managers and leaders when it’s their time to take over the reins.

“Women and men are getting married later, having children later and even when they are having families we have still have professional families that work around children and still maintain career focus and direction.”

He says these social and generation changes are also likely to result in greater sharing of caring duties, further paving the way for women to balance family commitments without disadvantaging their careers.