A McKinsey study shows how to prevent automation from leaving women behind

Millions of workers will likely be displaced by automation technologies and artificial intelligence over the next decade. Those with the skills to cope with the changing demands of the labor market will find their place in the new economy and face the challenges that lie ahead of the threat of automation.

This is especially true for women, according to a new report released this week by the McKinsey Global Institute. It is estimated that between 20 and 3030, between 40 and 160 million women will have to transition between occupations or acquire new skills to stay in the job market. A similar number of men will face the same challenges, but men will be better prepared to deal with them.

Without the same "double burden" of paid work and unpaid care work, nor the challenge of having less access to the Internet and mobile technology around the world, men have a benefit for adapt to the new economy. Current training and retraining programs designed to prepare workers for the future do not adequately address the challenges women face.

Women are much more likely to combine work and family than men – in particular, performing three times more unpaid care work – and are therefore less mobile and able to spend time on job interviews and interviews. recycling programs, or to make them there. A 2013 study by Harvard Kennedy School found that women were more likely than men to drop out of training programs if they lived further away from the training center, and that they were more likely than men to mention the problems of family, marriage or transportation so as not to register at all. The training offer must reach women where they are.

Even with the good news of automation, women are left behind. We are already witnessing the emergence of newly created professions or "jobs at the border", such as AI specialist, robotics and information director roles that did not exist before the advent automation and AI technologies. And yet, most of these exciting opportunities go to graduate men.

Health care workers will need programming skills to use new diagnostic tools that accelerate lab results. Teachers will need better computer skills to use machine learning filing systems. Subsistence agriculture workers – an extremely populous group of women in countries like India – are going to have to find a new job. Without improving their skills, women will find it difficult to adapt to the transformation already in their professional lives.

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We have time to invest in the necessary changes, but we must act quickly. We have already seen public successes. The Canadian Choosing Science campaign aims to encourage young women to work in science, noting that female students make up only 35% of science, technology, engineering and mathematics students worldwide. The Disney Code Initiative: Rosie recruits and trains women in non-technical positions for high demand software engineering positions.

If we invest before the upheavals of our global economy, the era of automation could offer women a future of more productive and potentially better paying jobs, and accelerate progress towards equality. gender issues by tackling old and new barriers faced by women at work. .

The requalification revolution will take time, so we must use the next decade wisely. Investing in skills retraining today is much better than responding to an unemployment crisis of 2030, especially if it leaves women further.

Liz Hilton Segel is Senior Partner and Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company for North America. Lareina Yee is a senior McKinsey Associate and Head of Diversity and Inclusion. The McKinsey Global Institute is the business and economics research arm of McKinsey & Company.

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