FOCUS – WEF: Artificial intelligence risks deepening gender inequality in the labor market

LONDON, September 16 /ATSH – AFP/ – The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) could deepen gender inequalities in the labor market if no measures are taken to prevent it, representatives of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and LinkedIn warned in London on Wednesday.

The warning was issued during the presentation of the annual report on inequalities between women and men.

“We found that the types of jobs being affected by AI tend to be those where women are particularly concentrated,” said Saadia Zahidi, a member of the WEF’s executive board.

According to her, these are mainly “qualified office jobs” that have attracted many women over recent decades and secured them good incomes, but which are now being transformed by the spread of AI.

The report notes that the situation is even more pronounced within AI companies themselves. Women are markedly less represented at these companies compared to similar companies that do not specialize in AI, at all levels of employment.

“Women hold only one in five jobs in AI engineering,” said Sue Duke, a leader at LinkedIn.

According to the report, unless the number of women pursuing scientific fields and new professions linked to artificial intelligence increases, the economic opportunities created by this technology could primarily benefit men.

To prevent the deepening of inequalities, governments and companies must invest from the early stages to include more women in these training programs and professions, and to support their development throughout their careers, Duke emphasized.

The WEF report on gender inequality is published every year since 2006. It shows that gender inequalities in the world have narrowed over the last 20 years, but the pace of improvement has slowed since 2016 compared to the first decade, 2006–2016.