WOMEN’S JOBS TO SUFFER AS AI TAKES HOLD

Interestingly, and rather alarmingly, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), highlighted some worrying facts related to AI and its direct impact on women’s role in society.

“In the UAE, women are promoted, encouraged. A large number of tech graduates here (70 per cent) are women. That is great, but AI and this fourth industrial revolution will have a more severe impact on women than men,” Lagarde said at the World Government Summit.

But why? Simply because many of the tasks done by women are more routinary tasks, easily substituted by technology, she said.

Going forward, 11 per cent of women’s jobs will be affected by technology in the future, whereas that number sits at just nine per cent for men.

“This shift will happen gradually. But one thing is for sure, the future of work will be different, particularly for women.”

Lagarde said that what tomorrow will give us is “tech and big changes”. And while that will bring with it challenges, it will create opportunities, too.

However, there is no doubt jobs will be impacted dramatically, and overall, it’s jobs that impact people’s well-being. How government embrace technology while continuing to give people value in the workplace will be crucial to economic growth.