Future Of Jobs Will Hit Women Most: Davos Report

A new World Economic Forum report on the future of jobs finds that 57 per cent of the jobs which will be replaced by technology between now and 2026 will belong to women. This is because of the dominance of men in industries like information and biotechnology, and also the fact that women are not rising to the top enough.

According to the head of WEF’s work on education and gender, Saadia Zahidi, gender inequality is worsening across all sectors.

Female workers dominate secretarial and administrative roles. And in the US economy, 164,000 female workers in those roles are at risk. At-risk professions, which are mostly female, have only 12 job transition options. Meanwhile at-risk male dominated professions, such as line workers, have 22 job transition options. When it comes to reselling, women have 49 options, while male professions have 80 options of reselling.

The report said that re-skilling can narrow the options gap between women and men

Zahidi said that companies need to consider organisational change at all levels of the workplace. “It needs a holistic approach from companies when thinking about gender equality – not just board-level positions. Diversity leads to creativity, which is even more necessary in a world undergoing an industrial revolution,” she said.

The gender gap is increasing. Last year, the WEF’s annual gender gap report said that the gap between male and female opportunity had widened for te first time since it started gathering data in 2006. In the world of work, progress for women has stagnated, said the report.

Staying relevant the way forward

The main limitation on opening up a world of job transition opportunities is the willingness to make a reasonable investment in re-skilling which will bridge workers onto new jobs.

Going forward, individuals who want to remain employed must accept that they will have to engage in life long learning, and regular re-skilling.

Employers will have to invest in training and capital development.

Policy makers will have to promote continuous re-skilling in order to maintain a labour force with the tools needed to fuel inclusive economic growth. The report says that it aims to move the debate on the future of work to new and practical territory.

Also Read: Equal Women In Labour Force Can Up India’s GDP By 27%: WEF