The history of automation, from telephone switches to PCs, shows women are disproportionately affected as AI targets routine clerical jobs. Nearly 10% of women in high-income countries work in roles most vulnerable to AI.
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01Summary
- 01Nearly 95% of US telephone operators were women in the 1940s, and AT&T's automated switch later eliminated about 75,000 operator jobs.
- 02The International Labour Organization concluded in March that nearly one in 10 women in high-income countries works in occupations at highest risk from AI.
- 03Ariane Hegewisch of the Institute for Women's Policy Research notes that 90% of secretaries and clerical workers are women, jobs AI targets.
- 04Economists Feigenbaum and Gross found that older operators often moved to lower-paying jobs or left the workforce, but younger women adapted to new roles.
- 05After the washing machine freed time, women's US labour force participation grew from 34% in 1950 to 52% in 1980, with new jobs in services and clerical work.
02Why it matters
This matters because AI could displace women from clerical and administrative jobs that provide stable incomes, repeating patterns from previous automation booms.
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