Robots, Jobs, and Daughters
by ParentCo.
January 18, 2016
The robots are coming for us. Specifically, for our jobs.
According to the World Economic Forum's new report
The Future of Jobs, it's estimated that by 2020, robots could replace 5 million jobs currently held by humans. And while it's widely understood that robots have already replaced service industry and factory jobs, robots will increasingly replace workers in white-collar positions.
Who loses the most? Women. Why?
Tech Insider summarizes:
Firstly, it says that most of the job losses to technology are in female-dominant roles, such as administration. Secondly, WEF says that while the creation of 2.1 million new jobs will partially offset some of the job losses, the fact that most of these roles will be in specialized areas such as computing, maths, architecture, and engineering and that women have "low participation in high growth skills" then the new positions are less likely to be filled by females.
That women are less likely to be working in the areas where the introduction and adoption of new robot technology will create jobs is of particular note for parents of daughters.
How do we keep our daughters from getting kicked out of science? Inspiring role models help.
Once stellar example of young women in science is Sabrina Pasterski, also known as
PhysicsGirl. Heralded as the new Einstein, and featured in
this Ozy article, Pasterski had built and flown her own single engine airplane by the age of 14.
As an MIT graduate and Harvard PhD candidate, Pasterski's research focus is to better understand quantum gravity within the context of quantum physics.
While that's big mouthful for the lay-person, the point is: inspirational role models like PhysicsGirl will help keep our daughters in science, and in paying jobs.
To understand more about this, keep reading:
The Guardian: Women to Lose Out in Jobs Revolution
Bloomberg: Rise of the Robots
Tech2: Youngsters Scared of Losing Future Jobs to Robots
Source: WEF, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Ozy, Tech Insider
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