AI Threatens 1 in 10 Women’s Jobs in Rich Countries as History Warns Routine Roles Vanish
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Oct 19
AI Threatens 1 in 10 Women’s Jobs in Rich Countries as History Warns Routine Roles Vanish
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 19
Summary
Nearly 1 in 10 women in high-income countries work in occupations at the highest risk from AI, the ILO found, with exposure concentrated in clerical and administrative roles still dominated by women.
90% of secretaries and clerical workers are women, and past automation shows the danger: after AT&T rolled out automatic switching, about 75,000 operator jobs disappeared and many displaced women moved into lower-paid work or left the labor force.
History also shows adaptation can follow the shock. Younger women later found comparable jobs, and the PC era eliminated some office roles but also let many women use new tools to stay valuable at work.
From 1950 to 1980, more than 25 million U.S. women entered paid work as appliances cut housework and a booming service-and-office economy created new roles, suggesting AI’s long-term impact will depend on whether comparable new work emerges.