GENERATIVE Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping the world of work, with the potential to boost productivity, support job creation and improve job quality, but its impacts are far from gender-neutral. A new research brief from the International Labour Organization (ILO) warns that GenAI is set to affect women’s jobs more than men’s, with female-dominated occupations almost twice as likely to be exposed to the technology.
The brief, “Gen AI, occupational segregation and gender equality in the world of work”, shows that women are disproportionately exposed to GenAI for three main reasons: they are overrepresented in jobs most susceptible to automation; they remain underrepresented in AI-related and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations; and AI systems themselves often reflect and reproduce the gender biases embedded in societies.
Women concentrated in high-risk jobs
Across countries with available data, occupations dominated by women are almost twice as likely to be exposed to GenAI as male-dominated ones, the study finds.
Around 29 per cent of female-dominated occupations are exposed to GenAI, compared to just 16 per cent of male-dominated occupations.
The difference is even starker when looking at high automation risk: 16 per cent of female-dominated occupations fall into the highest exposure categories, compared to only 3 per cent of male-dominated ones.
These risks are closely linked to occupational segregation. Women are heavily concentrated in clerical, administrative and business support roles, such as secretaries, receptionists, payroll clerks and accounting assistants, where many tasks are routine and codifiable and therefore at higher risk of substitution by GenAI. By contrast, men are more represented in construction, manufacturing and manual trades, where tasks are less easily automated.
At the country level, women are more exposed to GenAI than men in 88 per cent of countries analysed. In several economies, more than 40 per cent of women’s employment is exposed to GenAI, including Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Philippines, as well as small island developing States in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
In high-income countries overall, 41 per cent of jobs are exposed to GenAI, compared with just 11 per cent in low-income countries, reflecting differences in occupational structures and digital readiness.
“Generative AI is not entering a neutral labour market,” said Anam Butt, co-author of the ILO research. “Discriminatory social norms, unequal care responsibilities and economic and labour market policies that do not fully address the needs of women and men continue to shape who enters which occupations and on what terms.
“As a result, women are concentrated in occupations that are more likely to be exposed to automation and remain underrepresented in AI-related jobs, facing higher risks but fewer opportunities from this technological shift.”
Locked out of AI opportunities
While GenAI is expected to drive job growth in technology-intensive sectors, women remain largely excluded from these opportunities. Globally, women accounted for only about 30 per cent of the AI workforce in 2022, only 4 percentage points higher than in 2016.
They are also underrepresented in STEM jobs more broadly, particularly in high-demand fields such as engineering and software development.
This imbalance matters. When women are missing from AI-related jobs and decision-making roles, they are less likely to benefit from new employment opportunities and skills development. At the same time, enterprises lose out on talent, diversity and innovation.
Technology shaped by society
The brief underlines that GenAI, like technologies that came before it, is not neutral. Technologies are designed, trained and deployed within existing social and economic structures and can therefore reproduce biases and discrimination.
The underrepresentation of women in the development and adoption of AI increases the risk of gender-biased technologies. AI systems trained on biased or incomplete data have been shown to disadvantage women in recruitment, pay decisions, credit scoring and access to services.
Such risks are compounded for women facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including on the basis of race, ethnicity, disability or migration status. Without safeguards, GenAI can amplify these inequalities at scale.
Policy choices matter
The ILO stresses that the most widespread impact of GenAI is likely to be on job quality rather than job quantity. GenAI can change tasks, intensify workloads, increase monitoring or reduce autonomy. But if designed and implemented responsibly, it can also improve working conditions, enhance productivity and support work–life balance.
“The choices made today will determine whether GenAI becomes a force for greater equality or one that entrenches existing gaps,” the brief notes. Embedding gender equality in the design, deployment and governance of GenAI is essential, alongside tackling occupational segregation, expanding women’s access to skills and ensuring their representation in AI-related roles.
“The impact of generative AI on women’s jobs is not predetermined,” said Janine Berg, senior economist in the Research Department and co-author of the report. “With the right policies, social dialogue and gender-responsive design, we can avert reinforcing existing discrimination.”
Strong labour market institutions and social dialogue are critical to this process. By involving governments, employers and workers in shaping how GenAI is introduced at work, technological change can support decent work and advance a more inclusive future of work for all. (ILO News)
