Gender pay gap hits 20-year high leaving women's wages up to 10 years behind

The national gender pay gap has continued to worsen over the past decade, putting women's wages between two and 10 years behind men's, depending on the industry.

The time warp is most stark for women working in finance and insurance. They earn the same amount their male colleagues were earning a decade ago.

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Men working full-time in finance and insurance pocket $2005 at the end of their week. Women working those same hours, on the other hand, pocket $1411 – the same amount their male colleagues were earning in 2004.

And it gets worse when accounting for inflation. Today's dollar buys only two-thirds of what it bought a decade ago. Convert the figures to 2014 dollars and women in finance and insurance are earning the equivalent of what their male colleagues earned in 1995.

At nearly 19 per cent across all industries, the national gender pay gap has hit a 20-year high, following a decade-long worsening trend. The closest Australia has come to wage equality was in 2005, when the gap dipped to 15 per cent.

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Wage inequality between the sexes is partly about the industries men and women tend to work in. Historically, male-dominated industries attract higher wages than female-dominated industries.

Miners, for example, 85 per cent of whom are men, earn more per hour than social workers, 77 per cent of whom are women.

But it's also about the jobs men and women do within an industry. Even in female-dominated industries, men are more often found in better-paid senior and leadership roles.

Take health care, for example. Rachel is more likely to be the nurse, while Ross is more likely to be the surgeon. If they work in education, chances are Ross is the school principal and Rachel the teacher's aide.

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If Ross and Rachel have children, Rachel is more likely to stay at home and care for the kids. This isn't necessarily because Ross and Rachel think a woman's place is in the home. Financially, it's the logical decision since at the end of the day, Ross brings home more bacon than Rachel, even though they work the same hours.

Of course, when Rachel does return to work, she isn't likely to work the same hours as Ross. She'll probably work a part-time or casual job that fits around the kids' school hours. This rules out most of the high-paying executive positions.

And even if Rachel is a high-flying executive, her earnings are likely to be lower than those of her peers, who didn't take time off from their careers.

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All these reasons help to explain why the gap between Rachel and Ross's earnings widens when comparing total weekly earnings, rather than equivalent full-time earnings.

On this basis, the time warp for women in all industries doubles from five years to 10 years, while in the worst-affected industries, women earn the same amount their male colleagues were earning 13 years ago.