Technological, socio-economic, geopolitical and demographic developments and the interactions between them will generate new categories of jobs and occupations while partly or wholly displacing others. In addition, as whole industries adjust and new ones are born, many current occupations will undergo a fundamental transformation. As the Fourth Industrial Revolution takes hold in different industries and job families, it will affect female and male workers in distinct ways.

By their very nature, many of the major drivers of transformation currently affecting global industries have the potential to enable the narrowing of industry gender gaps that continue to be widespread in most industries today, aggravating hiring processes and future workforce planning due to a more restricted talent pool. As industries prepare to adapt to disruptive change, tackling gender gaps could also unlock new opportunities for growth.

The Future of Jobs Report seeks to understand the current and future impact of key disruptions on recruitment patterns and gender gaps in different industries and countries. It does so by asking the Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) of today’s largest employers to imagine how jobs in their industry and women’s participation in the workforce will change up to the year 2020.

Report by the World Economic Forum