Women may be at greater risk of AI job losses. Telephone switch operators and PCs show why
CNBC
By Steve Liesman
The history of technological progress — from automated telephone switches to the introduction of the washing machine and the personal computer — can offer some guidance. And that guidance suggests women are likely to be among the most affected by AI.
“AI is focused on routine tasks and numbers and finding patterns, and those types of jobs are the clerical, administrative jobs that a lot of women hold,″ said Ariane Hegewisch, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “It’s still 90% of secretaries and clerical workers who are women.”
New research backs this up. The International Labour Organization in March concluded that nearly one in 10 women in high-income countries works in occupations at the highest risk from AI.