"You need to have pretty much the same pay for men and women in every job but you also need to have gender balance across the whole organisation, especially the leadership."

Gender removed from job applications

Australia Post acting CEO Christine Corbett said the result was particularly impressive given Australia Post was one of the largest employers in the country with 34,000 employees.

"Over the last seven and a half years we have focused on improving the representation of women across all levels of leadership and addressing unconscious bias.

"This culminated in October 2015 when we launched our landmark gender action plan to focus and fast-track professional development."

She said over the past 12 months, more than 400 women had participated in career development programs, which "has been instrumental in identifying and nurturing talent".

The company also took part in the Victorian government's trial program last year to remove unconscious bias by de-identifying personal details during recruitment, such as gender, age and names.

Its marketing campaign for its male-dominated operations roles also made strong efforts to attract females, including for van drivers and motorcycle posties.


New female CEO still highest paid

Australia Post's zero per cent gender pay gap also comes as it recently hired Blackmores CEO Christine Holgate as its new chief executive on half the pay of her predecessor, Ahmed Fahour.

While Mr Fahour took home $5.6 million last year, Ms Holgate will earn a base salary of $1.4 million with the potential for another $1.4 million as a bonus.

The pay disparity is partially explained by Mr Fahour's salary attracted criticism for being excessive but the position remains the highest paid in the public service.

Ms Holgate's appointment also means the majority of Australia Post's board of directors are now set to be women.

Female board directors, including deputy chair Holly Kramer, Dominique Fisher, Jan West and Deidre Wilmott, will increase from four to five out of nine when Ms Holgate joins at the end of October.

The proportion of women on the board had already risen from 33.3 per cent in 2015-16 to 44.4 per cent in 2016-17.

Women also account for 37.7 per cent of Australia Post executives, up from 35.4 per cent, including CFO Janelle Hopkins and corporate secretary Erin Kelly.

Across all managerial roles, women made up 37.5 per cent of the workforce, up from 36.4 per cent, and accounted for the majority of postal managers at 53.6 per cent, up from 51 per cent.