This depressing figure has come straight from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, which has been measuring the pay gap for the past five years.

But the agency’s director, Libby Lyons, says there has been a significant enough decrease in the size of the gap - 1.1 per cent in the past year - for a glimmer of hope to start lighting up the (still male-dominated) boardrooms across Australia.

“The reason it is dropping is because employers are taking action," Ms Lyons said.

"It's the biggest drop we've seen over the five years of collecting data. Now nearly 40 per cent of all managers are women and over the five-year period we have seen a steady increase.

"That is really fantastic because 43 per cent of all promotions into management went to women as well. If that trend continues we'll hit that magic 50-50 number soon."

Not soon enough, though. Tellingly, it is in the most female-dominated industry - the health-care sector - that the pay gap has seen an increase. While it is women who are traditionally employed in health care and the so-called “social assistance” industry, it is men who are in charge.

Across the board, there is also plenty of lip service being paid to the notion of equality as an aspiration and a goal, but often without much action to make it a reality.

"Although more employers are analysing their pay data, over 40 per cent of those who did took no action to close the gap," Ms Lyons said.

"Access to parental leave has ground to a halt. Although the proportion of women in management has increased, most senior roles, especially at the CEO level, are still dominated by men."

And yet, Ms Lyons says there’s hope in these figures, if only because they’re smaller than last year’s. In fact, this year’s 1.1 per cent decrease in the gap was the largest yearly change recorded.

“I feel uplifted when I see the results over the five-year period, and I congratulate those organisations that have already taken steps to address the gender balance in the workplaces,” she said this week.

“But for the rest who haven’t, I encourage them to do so, and to do quickly, because otherwise they are not going to remain competitive in their industry.”

But it’s not just particular workplaces that need to work towards narrowing the gender pay gap, and Ms Lyons should be appealing to something more than mere corporate competitiveness.

All people in all walks of life will benefit once we are able to change our overall attitudes to the workplace. Although flexible working arrangements for both genders are becoming more normalised, along with family-friendly hours and more diverse voices at all levels, the numbers show that we have a long way to go before we can be proud of where we’re headed.

Crucially, it is only when women are able to move through the workplace on their own terms - rather than the long-established hierarchies and protocols that have traditionally benefited men - that things will truly change.