Mid-career women with at least five years' experience are being overlooked for digital roles in the tech and financial and professional services sectors, where they are traditionally underrepresented, according to the report by the City of London Corporation. The governing body that runs the capital's Square Mile found female applicants were discriminated against by rigid, and sometimes automated, screening of their CVs, which did not take into account career gaps related to caring for children or relatives, or only narrowly considered their professional experience.
With the UK facing significant AI skills shortages, new research suggests a sharper focus on boosting workforce diversity will be required to meet government AI training plans. A new study from BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT found the proportion of women working in tech has risen to 22%. While the marks a welcomed - albeit small - increase of 1%, the institute noted there's still a lot of work to be done.
Women are being warned they could get left behind by advancements in technology after a study revealed they are twice as likely to hold jobs under threat from AI. The findings showed that female-dominated roles, such as administration, bookkeeping, cashiers, and office staff, are more vulnerable to job loss as a result of automation. To compound the issue, women were also found to be 20 per cent less likely to engage with generative AI tools than men,
"While the one-third probability of getting picked in the lottery remains the same since I applied in 2017, the job market when I graduated felt better."