An Australian workforce study conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicated men are four times more likely to earn more than $104,000, with females comprising just 1.7 per cent of the nation's top wage earners, the Sunday Herald Sun reported.
The survey of almost nine million employees found 151,000 females earn more than $2000 a week, compared with 570,400 men.
Victorian Trades Hall Council youth officer Keelia Fitzpatrick said discrimination was ingrained in many workplaces' recruitment and promotion processes.
Young women who finish university face a gender pay gap as soon as they start their careers, she said.
"Figures show that across industries female graduates will earn on average $2000 less per year than their male counterparts," Ms Fitzpatrick told the newspaper.
"This debunks the myth that the gender pay gap can be explained by family commitments."
Careers expert Kate Southam said breaks to raise families were part of the reason for more women than men in lower paid work but was not the only explanation.
She said there was an unconscious bias among employers to pay men more and a tendency for women to wait for promotions rather than actively pursuing wage increases.
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