A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute finds that between 40 million and 160 million women globally will be directly impacted by automation. They describe how it will be vital for women to develop (1) the skills that will be in demand; (2) the flexibility and mobility needed to negotiate labor-market transitions successfully; and (3) the access to and knowledge of technology necessary to work with automated systems, including participating in its creation. Unfortunately, women often face long-established and pervasive structural and societal barriers that could hinder them in all three of these areas—and has made progress toward gender equality in work slow.
If women make these transitions, they could be on the path to more productive, better-paid work. If they cannot overcome these barriers, then they could face a growing wage gap or be left further behind when progress toward gender parity in work is already slow.
Watch a summary of the report, The Future of Women at Work: Transitions in the Age of Automation, below.