Automation To Hit Women In the Workforce Harder Than Men, Study Finds

The biggest threat to the modern working individual is not foreigners or bad economics, but rather, automation. Robots taking over manufacturing has been an issue for the working class in the past, but now the technology has advanced a lot more. As a result, no job is safe from automation and it is going to hit women a lot harder than men, according to one study.

The World Economic Forum recently published research findings that indicated how intelligent machines will make a lot of jobs that are largely filled by women obsolete. According to the study, up to 1.4 million jobs will be at risk in the U.S. by 2026. A majority of those jobs are ones more commonly held by females.

This is a problem on multiple fronts, one of which is the matter of diversity. It’s been largely accepted in practically every industry that men dominate job openings as well as many high-ranking roles. The jobs that are left available for women are ones that are traditionally left up to them, including being secretaries, personal assistants, sales clerks, and more.

Unfortunately, the rise of automation and the increasingly intelligent machines that come with the trend are becoming competent enough to actually replace humans. There are now smart assistants that can function as virtual secretaries, PAs, and clerks in one, for example, and they don’t need to be paid.

As Futurism points out, a lot of the women who will lose their jobs due to automation will also have no recourse in terms of transfer opportunities in their field. Only about a quarter of the workers at risk will have the opportunity to find employment in another field.

If leaders in the industry are willing to invest the time and effort to retrain their workforce, however, this matter could be addressed. Fortunately, it would seem that many are already taking steps in the right direction.