The future is ours: Women, automation and equality in the digital age

a new IPPR publication

Following the Commission on Economic Justice's work on automation, IPPR has examined the impact automation could have on women. Our new report The Future is Ours: Women, automation and equality in the digital age shows that working women are more than twice as likely as working men to hold jobs with high potential for automation. But when workers are cheaper than machines, there is little incentive to invest in automating technologies.

The report argues that without intervention gender inequality could deepen as women are stuck in low-pay roles and less able to access new roles in the economy. It is imperative that government ensures that the increasing use of robots, cognitive technologies and artificial intelligence don't widen existing gender pay and wealth gaps.

Managed correctly, automation could increase productivity. These gains could be used to increase low incomes and to transform how we value key job roles that have historically been characterised by feminised work performed primarily by women, for low wages. Increased productivity could also allow us to produce the same amount with less work: we could choose to reduce working time, potentially relieving the 'double shift' of paid and unpaid work faced by many women and facilitating a more equal balance of unpaid work between genders.

Technology is not destiny. Now is our chance to accelerate automation to create a more just economy. To realise these benefits will require automation to be led by those it affects, and that must include women.

Summary report (PDF 2pp)

Full text (PDF 56pp)

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