Automation Benefits Women More Than Men, Economic Professor Claims

Automation is currently right at the top of fears that workers have due to the inevitability of machines taking over their jobs. However, if what an expert of economics is saying is true, it seems the impact of automation will be disproportional. In fact, the rise of the machines might actually benefit one group of people more than the other: women.

Fabrizio Carmignani made this prediction in a piece published on The Conversation. Carmignani is a Griffith University professor of economics and in the article, he wrote that women have less to fear from automation than men. It would seem that a lot of this is due to some factors that many might consider wildly sexist, but which actually makes sense when looking at statistics alone.

“Women are overrepresented in industries that require high levels of social skills and empathy (such as nursing, teaching and care work), where it would be difficult to replace a human worker with automation. Women in advanced economies also have, on average, higher levels of education and digital literacy, giving them a comparative advantage in a labour market that is continuously transformed by technological innovation,” the article reads.

From a purely objective point of view, this actually makes a lot of sense. There are more women in areas that require more sensitivity than there are in industries that involve aggression. Since the latter is where a vast majority of the automation focus is being directed, it’s simply a fact that the former would not suffer as big of an impact.

Carmignani doesn’t just pull this conclusion out of nowhere, either, as he cites several studies that support his point that span countries across the world. The economics professor also makes historical data a reference, where he notes how technological innovation inevitably means more job opportunities for women.

As Futurism notes, however, Carmignani’s point is just one of many. There are also other predictions that either involves women feeling a bigger impact of automation than men or women initially feeling a bigger impact, but with men being more adversely affected, overall.