AI Sort: Artificial Intelligence i.e. AI is rapidly changing the way work is done all over the world. But its impact on jobs is not the same for everyone. Women’s risk of job loss is much higher than men’s in this change. Crores of women are working in offices in administration, clerical and day-to-day work. Now AI is the first to automate these tasks. Previous technological revolutions in history give us clear warnings. Inevitability is created whenever a new industry is established. But employees whose old skills are no longer useful struggle to find another job with equal pay and security. Policymakers and companies now face a growing concern that technological advances will bring economic opportunities but also leave large segments of the workforce on the brink of unemployment.
AI has a direct impact on clerical work
A study published a few months ago by the International Labor Organization (ILO) highlights the seriousness of this threat. According to the report, nearly 1 in 10 women in high-income countries are working in occupations most at risk of losing jobs due to AI. Women are overrepresented in record keeping, file handling and general information processing work. Arianna Hagewisch, senior research fellow at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, says the entire focus of AI is on capturing routine tasks, numbers and patterns. These are exactly the same clerical and administrative jobs that women hold in large numbers. According to him, even today 90 percent of secretaries and clerks are women.
This threat is not limited to layoffs. When technology eliminates entrenched positions, laid-off workers are forced to take lower-paying jobs or leave their jobs permanently. Renowned economist David Otter says that most people spend their entire lives around the job they choose early in their career. People don’t change careers very often. In such a situation, if the importance of their work suddenly disappears due to technology, it becomes very difficult for them to get another job of the same level. Finally they have to do some work below their level.
A great lesson is hidden in the history of telephone operators
The impact of large-scale automation is easily understood from the history of American telephone operators. In the 1940s, 95 percent of telephone operator jobs in America were held by women. This task required rigorous training, speed and precision. In those days, women were paid very well for this work. But the need for operators gradually disappeared when automatic telephone switching systems arrived.
Economists James Feigenbaum of Boston University and Daniel P. of Duke University. Gross studied this change based on older data in the year 2020. They saw that this technological setback took away their jobs and careers from the women who worked there. About 75,000 operators lost their jobs. Many veteran women had to go into low-paying jobs or stay at home. However, the new generation of girls adapted themselves to the new environment and found good jobs in other fields. Understanding this distinction is also important for the age of AI. In the long run, new jobs may enter the market, but workers who are already in these insecure positions will suffer an immediate loss.
A journey from washing machines to personal computers
Not every technological change has reduced opportunities for women. Machines used in households, especially washing machines, significantly reduce the time spent in unpaid household work. It made it easier for women to go out and earn. Between 1950 and 1980, the number of working women in America increased by more than 25 million. Their participation in the labor force has increased from 34 percent to 52 percent. As the economy grew, many jobs were created in retail, hospitality, childcare, and office administration. Economist Jeremy Greenwood of the University of Pennsylvania and other researchers described home machines as ‘engines of freedom’ for women because they lighten the burden of housework.
After this, in 1980, personal computers made a new change. At that time, about 4.7 million people worked as secretaries, stenographers, and typists in America, more than 98 percent of whom were women. After the advent of computers and word-processing software, managers and executives began to do the work themselves, which previously had a separate staff. However, computers gave women new tools, allowing them to learn new skills and make themselves more useful to companies.
Can new jobs offset these losses?
The big question today is whether AI will equally create new and well-paid jobs for those who will be made unemployed by automation? In the year 2022, a research paper by Markus Dilander and Eliza Forsythe revealed that companies that adopted new software for office work saw a 1 percent decline in jobs in this sector. On the other hand, salaries of college graduate employees increased by 3 percent. Today, women’s increased access to higher education and managerial positions may provide them with some security. But with the speed at which AI is now intervening in even complex professional tasks, the scope of risk is also getting bigger.
