+
EDITOR’S QUESTION
TARA O’SULLIVAN,
CMO AT SKILLSOFT
W
e’ve all heard the shocking
statistics – one Oxford report
suggested that 47% of jobs in
the US are under threat of automation in the
next two decades. A 2017 McKinsey Global
Institute report estimates that automation
and other technology could result between
400 and 800 million people losing their
jobs to machines and that globally, up to
375 million workers may need to switch job
titles. Undoubtedly, the adoption of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
will shake up the job market. What I want to
look at is how women will fare in this new AI
world. According to estimates by the Institute
for Spatial Economic Analysis, twice as many
women as men will lose their jobs because
women are typically working in areas that are
most likely to be automated. We’re talking jobs
like cashiers, office and administrative roles.
I believe the future for educated women is
positive. As gender bias becomes more and
more unacceptable; the pay gap will close
and it will become commercial suicide not to
have a diverse board. Educated women will
do well. The World Economic Forum predicts
that those women already in disadvantaged
groups – older women, women lacking
education or formal qualifications, rural
women and immigrant women – could have
a very different experience.
The World Economic Forum also identified
that in absolute terms, men will face nearly
4 million job losses and 1.4 million gains,
approximately one job gained for every
three jobs lost, whereas women will face 3
million job losses and only 0.55 million gains,
more than five jobs lost for every job gained.
The issue is not that we will lose jobs to AI
and we will have to spend time and money
reskilling and upskilling our people, it’s that
these losses will be felt most heavily and
harshly by women, as they usually hold the
types of lower-skilled positions that are more
easily replaced by automation.
www.intelligentcio.com
/////////////////
How do we begin to fight back? It’s
all about education. I believe it is the
employer’s responsibility to reskill and
upskill their employees. We cannot allow
millions of women to be laid off without
offering an alternative career. We need to
provide employees with access to learning
which they can take at their own pace,
where and when it suits them and offer
them various options of how to learn –
including videos, ebooks and audiobooks.
I believe that in the future, the most
successful employers will have the best
learning solution as part of their offering.
Just like companies talk about their pension,
health insurance or holiday policy to attract
the right talent, it will become necessary
for companies to demonstrate how to grow
your skills.
“
TWICE AS MANY
WOMEN AS MEN
WILL LOSE THEIR
JOBS BECAUSE
WOMEN ARE
TYPICALLY
WORKING IN
AREAS THAT ARE
MOST LIKELY TO BE
AUTOMATED.
INTELLIGENTCIO
37