YVETTE Berry says the ACT Public Service (ACTPS) State of the Service Report 2014-2015 shows that the gender pay gap has closed to only 2%.

“The Report demonstrates consistent ACTPS performance on gender pay gap, female workforce and female executive participation,” Yvette says.

“In 2015 the ACTPS remains one of the nation’s best performers for women in closing the gender pay gap. Nationally women earn 17.9 per cent less than their male colleagues, while in the ACTPS women are paid 2 per cent less. The ACTPS is also performing better than the broader ACT labour market where the gender pay gap is still 11.7 per cent.

“The ACTPS is a progressive and diverse workplace, committed to being representative of the community it serves. In 2015 the ACTPS has 13,593 female employees, 65 per cent of the full time equivalent workforce. This is approximately 17 percentage points more women than the overall ACT labour force (48.3 per cent) and approximately 19 percentage points more than the Australian labour force (46.1 per cent).

“In executive and decision-making roles, the ACTPS continues to demonstrate leadership with women holding 42 per cent of Senior Executive positions. A recent study by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency revealed that only 17.3 per cent of women occupy chief executive officer roles and 26.1 per cent of key management positions in the national labour force.

“In the ACTPS six out of eight Directors-General, including the Head of Service Kathy Leigh, are women.

“As Minister for Women I know there is still work to close that 2% gap, to ensure women are represented across a diverse range of policy areas and to improve parity in the private sector.”