Council bosses have been accused of "unconscious bias" after a new report revealed female employees were paid 12 per cent less than their male counterparts.
Councillor Susan Woodward, leader of the Labour opposition group at Staffordshire County Council, described the figure as "unacceptable".
She has launched a "scrutiny inquiry on sexism" at the authority, where more than three quarters of the workers are women.
But officials pointed out more men than women were employed in high-paid senior jobs and there was no difference in pay for those performing the same roles.
They also said the pay gap was way below a national average of 17.4 per cent and a public sector average of 17.7 per cent.
Councillor Woodward said: "While this figure for Staffordshire County Council's pay gap is less than the average, this is clearly unacceptable in 2018 especially when 75 per cent of the workforce is female.
"I've initiated a scrutiny inquiry on sexism in all its forms at Staffordshire County Council and this needs to be an area that's looked at closely with a view to getting firm, early actions in place.
"In particular, we have to address issues around unconscious bias in appointments, the tendency to appoint people who look and sound like the people making them, especially in an organisation where male councillors hugely outnumber female councillors."
Council leader Philip Atkins said: "We fully support the Government’s gender pay reporting legislation, as it provides transparency on pay and encourages employers to act faster to close the gap.
"At the county council, just over three in four of our employees are women, yet there are more men in higher-paid roles.
"Clearly this needs to change, so we need to do some further analysis to understand the causes of the pay gap in Staffordshire and what we can do to close it.
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"We've currently developing a new workforce strategy for our organisation and this will look at what steps we can take, from promoting our family-friendly policies such as flexible and smart working, to talent and succession planning.
"We need to ensure everyone who works for us has the same opportunities to progress in their career."
New government legislation insists employers with more than 250 employees must publish a gender pay gap report before Friday, March 30.
This must detail the exact difference between the average hourly pay for men and women employees.
