Working as a senior research analyst at a stockbroking firm in the late 1980s, Ms Lewis-Gray assumed she was being paid more than the junior male analysts she oversaw.

It was only when she left in 1989 she realised she was being paid less.

Figures released this week show the pay gap between men and women in Australia persists, with women paid less than men across all industries and at all levels.

The gap grows with seniority, with female top-tier managers earning 26.5 per cent – $93,000 – a year less than their male counterparts, data compiled by Curtin Economics Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency showed. However increasing the representation of women in senior leadership roles appeared to lessen the gap.

“I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be trusting my employers anymore for looking after what I expected - fairness and equity in the workplace.

“I also discovered I had to be responsible for my own pay rate.

“It’s very easy to let men tell you they’re better – but we all know intuitively that the skills we have as women are critical to the workforce.”

Ms Lewis-Gray said she believed the glass ceiling was beginning to crack.

“I think there’s a natural trend based on technology and the speed of innovation that is going to play into the general capabilities of women to be more collaborative, but as a group we still need to fight for that outcome.”

The mining industry – which pays the highest average wage to women – needs more women senior in management, she said.

“The industry needs more women, it needs more collaboration, it needs more team based and more social engagement capability. Women have an unconscious bias ourselves so we all need to educate ourselves and also talk up our strengths as women.”