Tech Explained: Here’s a simplified explanation of the latest technology update around Tech Explained: AI Gender Pay Gap – Emerging Tech in Simple Termsand what it means for users..
What can we do about it?
Too often, when we look at the gender pay gap, we focus on “fixing women” – for example, by encouraging more aggressive negotiation or a greater willingness to relocate or work longer hours.
But what about if we were to focus instead on redesigning the system – and how might this look? We saw during the COVID-19 pandemic a glimpse into this future, with remote work becoming standard. We know that the rise in remote working has coincided with growth in the number of women applying for technical roles, as this removes the need to relocate. It’s a natural experiment that clearly showed how women’s participation can increase when structural barriers are removed.
There are also some other structural changes. A first step is to make flexibility the default rather than an exception. For instance, rather than treating remote work as an exception and on-premise working as the norm, we should design roles that are flexible from the start. The infrastructure for remote work clearly exists, so the barriers are cultural.
A good next step is to ensure that career mobility isn’t dependent on moving between firms. This has long been a suspicion, and it belies the value of being able to progress internally, both for the employer and the employee. This would be beneficial for all employees, not just women, but it would certainly help those facing mobility constraints.
We should also look afresh at our expectations with regard to the hours we want people to work. We know that people increasingly value a good work-life balance, and also that a good work-life balance isn’t detrimental to productivity. The extended work hours and constant availability don’t reflect genuine necessity as much as they do organizational culture.
Last, but not least, we should ensure equitable access to projects involving new and emerging technology. We know from our research that exposure to these technologies is key to getting ahead at work, so it’s crucial that access to these opportunities is fairly distributed and not given to those who can work long hours or relocate at the drop of a hat.