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Samar, an administrative employee, has been working for years entering data, preparing reports, and responding to customer inquiries, but with the entry of artificial intelligence tools into her work environment, she began to wonder whether the tasks she accomplishes daily will still need her intervention, or whether a machine will be able to do them in a shorter time and at a lower cost, leaving her with an unclear professional future.
The use of artificial intelligence is expanding at a rapid pace, opening up new opportunities for work and production, but at the same time raising questions about its impact on women in the labor market.
While fears are growing that new technologies will replace some traditional jobs, women face an additional challenge represented by their limited representation in emerging technical jobs, which raises questions about whether the boom in the artificial intelligence industry will create equal opportunities for both genders or will deepen the existing gap between them.
ILO data indicate that 29 percent of jobs in occupations dominated by women are vulnerable to generative AI, compared to 16 percent in occupations dominated by men, while the ratio of 16 percent (for occupations dominated by women) compared to 3 percent (occupations dominated by men) stands out when looking at the categories of jobs most vulnerable to automation.
In another indication of the opportunity gap, LinkedIn data reported that women constituted only 26 percent of those appointed to artificial intelligence jobs in the United States in 2025, compared to 50 percent of those appointed to other jobs, while they held only 13 percent of senior executive management positions in artificial intelligence companies across 27 countries.
A few days ago, The Guardian newspaper published an article entitled: “The artificial intelligence sector is thriving, and women are marginalized.” The article addresses the gap between the rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence sector and the participation of women in it, whether in terms of employment opportunities or access to leadership positions.
The article warns that women may face two simultaneous challenges: their concentration in some administrative and service jobs that are most vulnerable to automation, and their weak representation in the new technical jobs created by the sector.
International Labor Organization reports support this concern.
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In an interview with the BBC, Aya Jaafar, an expert in labor economics at the International Labor Organization, said that women’s exposure to the influence of artificial intelligence is largely related to their distribution among different professions, as a large percentage of them are concentrated in administrative, clerical, and business support jobs, which include “routine tasks” that generative artificial intelligence can automate to a greater degree.
She adds that women are still less represented in the fields of artificial intelligence, technology, science, engineering and mathematics, which may limit their benefit from new job opportunities associated with digital transformation.
Aya Jaafar also warned that the use of AI systems based on “biased” or incomplete data could reinforce existing gender inequalities, including in employment, wages and career advancement.
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According to estimates by the International Labor Organization, 5.3 percent of jobs held by women in the Arab region are at high risk of automation using generative artificial intelligence, compared to 1.6 percent of jobs held by men.
But the organization stressed that these numbers do not mean that these percentages of women will actually lose their jobs, explaining that “potential exposure to automation does not necessarily mean job loss,” as the actual impact depends on how these technologies are integrated into the workplace, workers’ skills, and the surrounding economic and regulatory conditions.
The organization indicated that routine and repetitive jobs, including general office work, data entry, sales, and customer service, are among the jobs that may face greater pressure as a result of the expansion of the use of artificial intelligence, and that sectors such as public services, basic manufacturing industries, and retail trade may witness a decline in some jobs under the technology integration scenarios addressed in its models for the Arab region.
In May 2026, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the International Labor Organization issued a joint report forecasting the future of artificial intelligence and the labor market in the Arab region until 2035.
The report estimated that about a quarter of jobs in the region may be affected by generative artificial intelligence, whether through the possibility of the decline of some jobs, the enhancement of employee performance, or the emergence of new jobs. He warned that automation may reduce employment opportunities in office and routine jobs.
On the other hand, artificial intelligence can enhance the capabilities of workers rather than completely replace them, as it may help them complete tasks more efficiently, assume more complex responsibilities, and acquire new skills, according to the International Labor Organization.
The organization estimates that 22.7 percent of the jobs held by women in the Arab region could benefit from this type of development.
However, Aya Jaafar, an expert in labor economics at the International Labor Organization, warns that “increasing productivity does not automatically lead to better jobs or higher wages,” explaining that this depends on how technology is introduced into the workplace, and the extent to which the resulting gains are shared with workers.
The organization calls for addressing barriers that limit women's opportunities, including discrimination and unequal distribution of care responsibilities and unpaid work, and opening pathways for them to access growing, higher-quality jobs, including jobs related to technology and artificial intelligence.
Likewise, a specialist in the field of artificial intelligence, Ibrahim Al-Jarrah, believes that women may be more vulnerable to the effects of artificial intelligence in the labor market, not because of a lack of competence or ability to keep pace with technological development, but rather as a result of the nature of the jobs that a percentage of them occupy, especially administrative and clerical jobs, customer service, and data processing, which depend on repetitive tasks that new technologies can perform.
Al-Jarrah told the BBC that the impact of artificial intelligence will not be limited to the disappearance of some jobs, but will extend to changing the nature of work in other jobs, with the emergence of new professional opportunities.
He explains that jobs that rely heavily on repetitive tasks may decline in need, while the tasks of workers in other jobs may shift from entering data and preparing reports to analyzing results, verifying their accuracy, and contributing to decision-making.
He adds: "We are not only seeing the automation of jobs, but a redistribution of tasks between humans and machines."
There is an economic study co-prepared by economist Stefania Albanese, which examined the impact of artificial intelligence on women’s employment in 16 European countries between 2011 and 2019.
It concluded that the share of women in total workers increased on average among the professions most exposed and affected by these technologies, specifically within countries where women enjoy higher levels of education and economic participation, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Economic Association in 2025.
From Al-Jarrah's point of view, the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence for women are not limited to specialized technical jobs, but include sectors such as education, health, marketing and financial services.
It could also open the way for remote work and entrepreneurship, along with opportunities in data analysis, application development, cybersecurity, and smart systems governance.
He emphasizes that benefiting from these opportunities does not necessarily mean that all women will go to learning programming in particular, but rather that they will acquire the ability to use the necessary tools: “The most important skill in the future will not just be the ability to use artificial intelligence tools, but rather the ability to ask the right question, evaluate the answer, and make the appropriate decision in the field of work.”
However, Al-Jarrah warns that artificial intelligence may contribute to widening the gap between women and men in job opportunities and income, if women are concentrated in jobs that are most susceptible to automation, while their access to technical training, specialized jobs, and leadership positions is reduced.
He points out that the risk is not only related to the changing nature of jobs, but also to the possibility of existing biases in the labor market being transferred to digital systems, especially when recruitment and performance evaluation tools rely on historical data that reflects previous disparities between women and men.
“The real danger is not that AI will be inherently biased,” Al-Jarrah says, “but that we allow it to learn from the inequalities and biases that exist in our societies, and reproduce them on a larger scale in new jobs.”
In light of this transformation, the future of women in the labor market depends not only on the ability of artificial intelligence to perform their tasks, but also on the ability of institutions and governments to create an environment that allows them to keep pace with change.
While new technologies may open doors to different professional opportunities, they may also lead to a widening of the gap between those who have the necessary skills to benefit from them and those who do not have access to training and qualification opportunities.
As for the Arab region, the challenge remains to ensure that the “artificial intelligence revolution” does not turn into a new factor that limits women’s economic opportunities, but rather into a tool that expands their participation in the labor market.
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