According to a new report by Randstad, a global recruiting and talent company, 71% of AI workers are men while only 29% are women. This was concluded after analyzing 3 million job profiles and 12,000 responses from employed participants. This shows that there is a huge gender gap when it comes to the AI workforce. The report also stated that women are less prioritized to access AI in their companies (35%) as compared to men (41%). Women are also 5% less likely to be prioritized over men for an AI related job. Only 30% of women are confident in their AI skills as compared to 35% men.
Julia McCoy, founder of First Movers, says that this is a very critical situation because it isn’t all about gender gap now. It is also concerning because there will be a lot of problems in future if we exclude women for job opportunities now. As AI will be pretty much everywhere in the coming years, we are ignoring real human potential which will affect many industries in the long run. This just shows that AI isn’t only threatening workplace inequalities, it is increasing the gender gap too.
To fix this gender gap due to AI skills, experts say that companies need to invest in upskilling their female employees. Educational institutions should also play their part in integrating AI literacy into their curriculums. There should also be visible female leaders in AI. Society also needs to change its perspectives about STEM being a male dominated field.
Institutions should also change the mindset about AI being a “future of work” instead of “a tech thing”. One positive aspect of the report was that there was a narrow AI digital gap among women who have been in the workforce for less than a year, as compared to women who have been working for many years.
Read next: A New Survey Finds Executives and Employees Think About AI Implementation Differently
Julia McCoy, founder of First Movers, says that this is a very critical situation because it isn’t all about gender gap now. It is also concerning because there will be a lot of problems in future if we exclude women for job opportunities now. As AI will be pretty much everywhere in the coming years, we are ignoring real human potential which will affect many industries in the long run. This just shows that AI isn’t only threatening workplace inequalities, it is increasing the gender gap too.
To fix this gender gap due to AI skills, experts say that companies need to invest in upskilling their female employees. Educational institutions should also play their part in integrating AI literacy into their curriculums. There should also be visible female leaders in AI. Society also needs to change its perspectives about STEM being a male dominated field.
Institutions should also change the mindset about AI being a “future of work” instead of “a tech thing”. One positive aspect of the report was that there was a narrow AI digital gap among women who have been in the workforce for less than a year, as compared to women who have been working for many years.
Read next: A New Survey Finds Executives and Employees Think About AI Implementation Differently
