Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and his office recently came under scrutiny after figures revealed that most of his female assistant attorneys make less than their male counterparts, on average, despite having the same job qualifications.

The attorney general's office claims that the difference in pay can be explained by the number of years that men have been licensed as lawyers and served at the agency, yet the figures provided by Abbott's office show no direct correlation between pay and experience, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

When the 20 highest-paid employees at the agency were unveiled, only three women could be identified on that list.

San Antonio Express-News collected salary figures in February which showed, of the 100 top positions, a mere 37 positions were held by women. 

However, Abbott's office insists that after being named attorney general in December 2002, the number of female lawyers in Abbott's office increased by 71... or 23 percent. The office also claimed that throughout his administration, women have served at the highest level, and nearly 40 percent of the executive-level division chiefs and employees are women.

Even so, the salary difference is indisputable... and has fueled disputes between the Republican nominee for governor, Abbott, and his opponent, Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis.

Davis and her supporters panned Abbot for deliberately not responding to whether he, like Republican Gov. Rick Perry, would have vetoed the equal-pay measure she sponsored last year.

Abbott's spokesman, Matt Hirsch went on the record, stating that Abbott "supports equal pay, and he supports Texas and federal law that provides legal avenues for victims of discrimination." Hirsh also said that the Texas Constitution, and state and law guarantees equal pay to women in the state, and Abbott will continue to ensure that that law is enforced.

In response, Davis's spokesman Bo Delp said, "The facts speak for themselves."

4,000 employees are stationed within the Texas attorney general's office, and nearly 2,900 of them are women. Overall, male employees make an average of $60,200 a year, and women make $44,708. Those averages, however, don't take into account differing job classifications.

When checking the salaries of the 722 assistant attorney generals under Abbott, the average salary for 343 men was $79,464, while the average salary for 379 women was $73,649.

However, men reportedly had more than 16 years of being licensed, while the women had nearly 14 years, according to Abbott's office. The men had an average of nearly 104 months of service, while the women had 92 months.

Six of the seven different classifications of assistant attorney general positions are positions where men earn higher wages than women; the difference being anywhere from $647 to $4,452.

"In three categories, the women on average either had more years of service or had been licensed longer, or both, despite being paid less, according to figures from the attorney general's office. In the latter case, the attorney general's office noted the salaries were almost identical -- the men's average salary was $122,528, while the women made $647 less while having more experience," according to Express News. 

Civil rights lawyer Jim Harrington stated that the bottom-line numbers were "absolutely astonishing."

"If you were to take them to court and show these statistics to the court, the burden would shift to them automatically to prove why there is that kind of discrimination, that disparity," said Harrington, who is the founder and director of the Texas Civil Rights Project. "That's a prima facie case of discrimination you are describing."

Katie Bardaro, lead economist for Seattle-based PayScale, suggested that the same title does not mean the same responsibilities, education, management skills, or characteristics.

Last year, Davis proposed a law that would be similar to the federal Lilly Ledbetter law, and would allow for cases to be brought to state court as a quicker and less expensive option to address discriminatory paychecks. Many are opposed to the measure, and they've said that it was unneeded.

On Wednesday of this week, the gubernatorial hopeful Abbot stated that he would have not sign the legislation that would make it easier for women to sue their employers over payment discrimination, telling the Associated Press that he opposed bills such as Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.