Having worked to establish ISACA’s SheLeadsTech program and participated in the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, the underrepresentation of women in the tech workforce has been top of mind for me for many years. Now, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is amping up both risks and opportunities in this area. We all need to pay close attention.
Our world’s deep digitization, accelerated by advancements in AI, is a double-edged sword that can both promote and generate bias on social norms, gender and cultural equality.
In my upcoming session, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Innovation & Technological Change in the Digital Age” at ISACA’s region-focused 2024 virtual conference, I will share my insights on how AI is recalibrating deeply entrenched challenges for equity in the digital world.
Currently, across the globe there are very few metrics in place to truly measure the digital transformation of economies and societies. However, we know that women and girls are being left behind. In a technologically rich world, we are witnessing a new form of poverty. According to the UN Secretary General, His Excellency, Antonio Gutteres, a new form of poverty, digital poverty has been born.
What is digital poverty?
Digital poverty is the inability to interact with the online world fully – when, where and how an individual needs to. This may be for many reasons, including lack of connectivity which, I am sad to say, affects a considerable percentage of people in my home country of Australia who live in regional, rural and remote communities. Equally, it may be because of the lack of means to connect – either not having a device or not being able to afford connectivity.
Interestingly, globally, only 57% of women have connectivity, which can severely limit their access to information and services. To that point, the US-based Kellogg Institute tells us that any population segment can be hit by digital poverty, and it does not necessarily mean that the individuals themselves are economically impoverished.
How does AI change the equation?
There can be no doubt that AI is shaping the future – sometimes in staggering fashion. It has the potential to change the way we work and determine what IT jobs of the future will look like. Large language models, machine learning, AI and generative AI are all playing a significant role in the world of big data, and each offers real benefits that could shape a future where technology contributes to transforming social norms, amplifying the voices of those that traditionally do not have a voice.
But AI also has the potential to sideline women as equal partners. Why? Technology is a human creation that reflects the people who develop it. It is made by humans for humans. While the digital age and emerging digital technologies are presenting new opportunities and offering innovative solutions for users, they are posing new challenges and raising alarming concerns.
According to the World Economic Forum, only 22% of AI talent globally are women. The consequences of the lack of inclusion of women are serious. Mounting evidence suggests that biases in AI are on the rise without diverse perspectives.
The underrepresentation of women in this field leads to badly designed algorithms and learning systems that are trained on data that contain gender biases, resulting in a reinforcement of gender stereotypes through systems created, unfair allocation of resources, sexism and a continued bias toward men. “Bias in, bias out,” as a prominent female researcher has explained it, now replaces the old tech adage of “garbage in, garbage out.”
How can we make a difference?
In order to close the digital divide, we need to enable equal participation in the design, creation and, where necessary, the regulation of technology. Despite the small steps to bridge this divide, progress has been glacially slow.
Opportunities for women to innovate and to secure well-paying careers will directly influence the ways in which technologies are either shaped or are stunted.
This was the theme of 2023’s Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN HQ in New York. One of the ways to achieve a more level playing field is for national policies and initiatives to increase parity across science and technology, which until now have largely not focused on the source of the issue – the people and institutions that provide unsupportive environments for women and girls.
While you and I might not be able to change everything that contributes to this gender imbalance, there are things that we can do within our own spheres of influence. As tech professionals, we are potential role models for the young women in our spheres and somebody that they can look up to and perhaps follow in your footsteps. Let’s offer ourselves to be a mentor or a coach to help a woman to pursue and to thrive in the career that she is seeking. ISACA’s Mentorship Program is a great place to start.
There are more steps we all can take to strengthen and diversify our digital ecosystem, and I look forward to discussing this with you in greater detail at ISACA’s virtual conference. Let’s champion a future where AI benefits all.