Empowering women through skills in the age of automation

Online training platforms should be set up for skills training, targetting underprivileged females of the society

Pakistan, in the past decades, has witnessed an emergence of vocational training centres encouraging women participation and has initiated women’s economic empowerment programmes. Notwithstanding that, a stark gender gap in the labour market persists. The Labour Force Survey 2017-18 suggests that while 81.1% of men are a part of the country’s workforce, the participation rate for women is abysmally low at 22.8%. The changing nature of work due to advancements in digital technologies and automation is making women in the formal sector apprehensive about their career prospects.

A recent report by the World Economic Forum reiterates that the so-called “fourth industrial revolution” will have an intense impact on women who are more likely to lose out in the workplace. What exactly is giving rise to this phenomenon? What is preventing women from pursuing their dream careers, breaking the barriers to entry in the job market and climbing the career ladder? Why do women have to bear the brunt of automation?

A number of factors have been highlighted in the literature on skills development but the most stressed-upon factor is the pronounced mismatch of skills i.e. women fail to offer skills which the market demands. In most instances, they are not equipped to meet the demands of digitalised work as it keeps changing. It is also argued that women lag behind in the workforce because they are discriminated against and denied access to decent work in the market. Especially in rural or conservative regions, women face barriers, including lack of access to quality higher education and exposure to the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) which hinder them from taking up high paying roles in the job market. Moreover, many women tend to have inadequate control over productive resources which impedes their ability to make decisions on their own or start their own business enterprise. Even, where women do have some control over financial resources, they are denied opportunities to participate in skills development training. Such barriers prevent women from engaging themselves fully in the labour market hence they often resort to low-skilled jobs with lower wages in the informal sector.

Globally and in Pakistan, middle and well-paid sectorial jobs are being replaced by automated and digitalised work. Prior to this, women in Pakistan were mostly employed as administrative assistants, secretaries, cashiers, receptionists and nurses. Basically women were found in low-risk jobs, though that is not true for every woman as a few carved a path for themselves in their careers. Since the majority of the women from low to middle-income families were successful in secretarial and administrative jobs, their career trajectory was jeopardised as technological advancements replaced such jobs. Besides, administrative jobs are low paying in nature and women must be encouraged to upgrade their skills in order to compete for lucrative positions.

The government needs to invest in quality and life-long training for females to ensure they pursue successful careers. They must be encouraged to work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the digital economy. This could be achieved by introducing new economic policies and reforming the existing education policies that feed the perception that women are not suitable for STEM-related fields and are incapable of performing as well as their male counterparts in such jobs.

Pakistan is aware of the fact that there is very little time left to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda by 2030. It is committed to meeting Goals 4 and 8, which expect participating countries to equip an increasing number of youths and adults with technical and vocational skills for decent jobs and entrepreneurship. Pakistan must prepare its potential workforce (of which women constitute a major part) by making long-term sustainable investments in fundamental skills through literacy in STEM. A sensible response to the growing uncertainty about the future of technology would be to introduce STEM-related disciplines in the curriculum across all schools. It is also vital to acknowledge that STEM skills are not the harbinger of success, and complimentary soft skills such as communication, teamwork and leadership are crucial as well. Emphasis should also be placed on developing analytical and critical thinking, complex problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence and system analysis and evaluation, and that students should not only be taught rigorous academic concepts but also be given real-world lessons. The style of teaching should equip students to apply concepts of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to make connections with global enterprises to enable them to compete in the new economy. STEM-related disciplines should be made a part of the curriculum, beginning at the primary education level and continuing through secondary school. It should be ensured that effective teachers are recruited to teach STEM subjects based on pedagogical research methods.

Moreover, despite there being a number of vocational training institutions in Pakistan where training is imparted to women, including the National Vocational Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), Skills Development Council, and Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), there are only 22.8% women in the workforce. If these training centres exist, then what is preventing women from getting employed and becoming economically empowered citizens of Pakistan? Is it because the training manuals followed in such organisations are outdated and not designed in consonance with the skills in demand?

Instead of relying on the outdated and archaic training modules used in many government technical training institutions, Pakistan should consider training women digitally by setting up more online platforms that follow new training practices. The idea is not to do away with the training institutions as attending training sessions in a formal setting allow people to interact with others. Nonetheless, online vocational training programmes — like Ignite National Technology Fund where you can sign up online and set up your profile to enrol in courses like e-commerce management, creative writing, digital literacy, etc — are positive initiatives for women who want to learn skills but are unable to attend trainings in far-off locations owing to mobility issues and poor transportation facilities.

In a nutshell, Pakistan should set up an online training platform for skills training and target underprivileged females TVET graduates, low-skilled women working in entry-level STEM jobs and mid-level skilled women working in STEM occupations to ensure they excel in their careers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2019.

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