Women at More Risk of Being Replaced by AI, Study Finds

AI is more likely to replace women at their jobs than men.

A recent study from the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that women's jobs are more likely to be automated than men's, thanks to advancements in AI.

The ILO is a United Nations agency that aims to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection, and strengthen dialogue at work, per its About Us page.

Highly Gendered Effects of AI

The ILO's recent study, "Generative AI and Jobs: A global analysis of potential effects on job quantity and Quality," found that the effects of automation due to better AI are "highly gendered," with women at greater risk of being replaced by AI than men.

The study found that 3.7% of jobs women hold worldwide are at risk of being automated, equating to the loss of 48 million jobs. Meanwhile, only 1.4% of jobs men hold worldwide - or 2 million jobs - are at risk of being automated.

Out of the countries affected by AI advancements and automation, jobs in high-income countries are more at risk of being automated, with 7.8% of the jobs women hold in high-income countries could be automated, which consists of around 21 million jobs.

In contrast, 2.9% of jobs men have - or approximately 9 million jobs - in the same countries have the potential of being automated. The ILO explains that women are more affected by automation because of women's over-representation in clerical work, especially in high and middle-income countries.

Furthermore, the ILO found that 58% of the tasks involved in clerical face medium exposure to automation. As such, while most clerical work in high-income countries could be automated soon, those in lower-income countries will eventually choose AI over human labor.

Clerical workers aren't the only ones affected by automation eventually. Typists, travel consultants, scribes, contact center information clerks, bank tellers, and survey and market research interviewers are also more likely to face automation soon.

However, jobs in occupational groups, which include managers, professionals, and technicians, will only face minimal amounts of automation.

Living With AI At The Workplace

There is some hope that AI wouldn't heavily impact the job market as much as people think it will, though. The ILO's study concludes that the socioeconomic effects of AI largely depend on how its diffusion is managed.

As such, companies and organizations need to design policies that support an "orderly, fair, and consultative transition." The ILO also advises that workers' voices, skills training, and adequate social protection will be crucial in managing the transition.

The authors note that the study's findings have the potential of not happening at all. However, this will only happen if the people responsible for deciding how to incorporate AI in the workplace choose not to support changes that benefit workers while still using automation.

"It is our hope that this information can support the development of policies needed to manage these changes for the benefit of current and future societies," the authors said. "We intend to use this broad global study as an opening to more in-depth analyses at the country level, with a particular focus on developing countries."