International Women’s Day 2023 focused on the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for gender equality”. The future of work is undergoing a rapid paradigm shift, with traditional business models being exponentially disrupted by digitisation and big data. It follows therefore that digital literacy and data literacy are key drivers for women to be able to participate as equal and agentic partners in this disruptive business context. UAE continues to be amongst the best performing countries in the Middle East and North Africa in closing the Gender Gap, ranked 68th out of 140 countries overall as per the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 and 49th in Educational Attainment in 2022 (compared to 89th in 2021), with a roughly equal split amongst STEM graduates (41.49 percent females vs. 58.51 percent males), thus providing an enabling context within which to further strengthen the digital skill sets required for women to be equal partners in UAE’s digital transformation journey.
World Economic Forum and LinkedIn Economic Graph data for the period until 2020 indicates that women represent as low as between 10 percent to 30 percent in the fast-growing job clusters, such as Cloud Computing, Data and Artificial Intelligence. In addition, the percentage of women in these jobs has shown no growth over the same period, with the numbers in Data Science and AI even showing a mild decline. Further, given that every function of Business, from Marketing to HR to Supply Chain and Logistics, to Finance, is being disrupted by digitisation, gender gap with regards to availability of a skilled talent pool is likely to lead to multiple challenges in the long run:
First, lack of diversity in the design of AI, is already providing evidence of algorithmic biases that flow into the design of AI systems, resulting from the unconscious biases and prejudices (regarding race, ethnicity and gender, among others) of the dominant groups perpetuating further inequity. Greater diversity is required in the design of AI to prevent and manage AI biases and to ensure fairness and justice. In parallel, more scientific research is required to uncover the drivers of AI bias so that these can be addressed appropriately, while being mindful of governance and ethics.
Second, women continue to be disproportionately underrepresented, both regionally and globally in leadership roles, with up to 13 percent in the C-suite and 22 percent in mid-level management positions (as per LinkedIn Economic Graph Report, 2022). There is a high risk of this gap widening, particularly given the data that gender gap is more in jobs that require disruptive skills. A recent report by McKinsey on women in the workplace states that only 34 percent of entry level jobs in engineering and product development are held by women, with only 26 percent of first level managers in technical roles being women, and a significantly lesser number of women in technology being promoted to leadership roles.
Third, disruptive jobs that require specialised skills are also likely to be paid more, with a continued underrepresentation likely to lead to further wage differentials, as an outcome of occupational segregation.
Fourth, while a post-covid world has democratised access to online learning opportunities, emerging evidence from around the world also indicates that the digital divide continues to disproportionately impact more girls than boys, resulting in relatively lesser opportunities for girls, particularly from lower and middle-income groups, to access online resources for learning.
How do we therefore reach a digitALL and gender-just future for women in the disruptive jobs of tomorrow?
A holistic and multi-level approach is recommended, as opposed to peace-meal and compartmentalised approaches. Schools must take an informed approach to review their curriculums, teaching and learning practices and digital infrastructure, to ensure that all young learners have early opportunities to develop numeric and digital skills, in a safe and equitable learning environment. Given the ubiquitous nature of technology intersections with work, university education in particular should aim to further strengthen these disruptive skills across Business, Engineering, Computing and Social Sciences, through work-integrated and immersive learning opportunities in collaboration with industry. Equally, if not more important, is for schools and universities to be intentional in providing early opportunities for girls and women to develop leadership skills and a growth mindset, such that they agentically reach out for relevant opportunities for skill building in measurable ways.
Organisations must monitor if their hiring and performance management practices are providing equitable opportunities for women. A targeted and evidenced based approach is likewise required to upskill and reskill women in digital and analytics skills necessary for their advancement. Women currently in early career and/or middle management positions may also be given structured opportunities for professional development and subsequent redeployment to fast growing jobs requiring disruptive skills, to further strengthen the pipeline. Women should also have access to mentoring and sponsorship models that help them to challenge intrinsic and extrinsic biases, and who guide them towards strategic projects and portfolios to develop their career capital for leadership roles. In a post-covid world, there is evidence of more women choosing to opt for hybrid-models of working. Organisations will have to take an evidence-based approach to ensure that hybrid models of work continue to be inclusive, such that women who choose these options are not disadvantaged due to proximity bias among others.
A post-pandemic world has taught us more than ever that societies can only survive and thrive when our collective intellectual and emotional insights come together to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Let us continue to work towards a gender-just digital future, through shared accountabilities at the individual, institutional and societal levels.
