UN Report Warns AI Threatens Women's Jobs, Calls for Urgent Action on Digital Divide The report also points to existing disparities in representation, with women making up only 29% of the global tech workforce and holding just 14% of leadership positions in the sector
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A new United Nations report has raised concerns that women's jobs are more vulnerable to disruption from artificial intelligence (AI) compared to men's, warning that urgent steps are needed to prevent inequality from deepening in the digital era.
According to Gender Snapshot 2025, nearly 28 per cent of women's jobs worldwide are at risk from AI automation, compared with 21 per cent of men's roles. The findings highlight the disproportionate impact of emerging technologies on women in the workforce, even as the digital economy is often hailed as a potential equaliser.
The report also points to existing disparities in representation, with women making up only 29 per cent of the global tech workforce and holding just 14 per cent of leadership positions in the sector. With 2025 marking the halfway point to the 2030 deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the study underscores the urgency of addressing gender gaps in technology access and opportunities.
UN analysts caution that without decisive interventions, "inequality could be coded into the future," repeating the mistakes of earlier industrial and digital transitions. But they also emphasise the scale of the opportunity; closing the gender digital divide could benefit 343 million women and girls, lift 30 million out of extreme poverty, improve food security for 42 million people, and generate an additional USD 1.5 trillion in global growth by 2030.
To safeguard progress made in women's labour participation, the report urges governments and industries to invest in women's digital and technical skills, create pathways for workforce transitions across sectors, and implement gender-sensitive labour and social protection measures. These actions, it argues, will be essential to ensure that technological disruption strengthens rather than undermines global gender equality.
