Online Education to Help Women Prepare For the Digital Economy
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Online Education to Help Women Prepare For the Digital Economy

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Cinthya Alaniz Salazar By Cinthya Alaniz Salazar | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Tue, 11/15/2022 - 17:50

Augmented and sustained investments in technology are expected to accelerate companies’ adoption of automation technologies, threatening to push low skilled labor—especially women—out of the market. While the timeline of this transition is unclear, access to online education has the potential to help women adapt to a digital economy through the development of in-demand skills and career paths, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). 

Online education platforms can help emerging economies “grow their markets and drive greater development impact through measures aimed at addressing the challenges women face in terms of participation and providing better services to female students,” reads the report summary. 

Prolonged talent scarcity, especially in the case of qualified talent, has motivated companies to accelerate their trajectories toward automation. Confirming this trajectory is the steadily growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) among Mexican companies, which stood at 17 percent in 2021, according to IBMs Global AI Adoption Index 2022. While this figure lags behind the global average of 35 percent, some 46 percent of Mexican companies already count with an outlined business strategy for its adoption. Consequently, as Mexican companies strive to realize this ambition, the window to remain competitive in an emerging digital economy is narrowing for low-skilled labor.  

Delving deeper, the job profiles most vulnerable to automation include: cashiers, waiters and retail sales—positions mainly held by women. In other words, after being disproportionately sidelined from the economy during the pandemic, Mexican women now need to prepare for a rapidly approaching and permanent threat to their livelihoods: automation. This is not something that Mexican women have disregarded; instead, they have opted to prepare through online classes that have afford them the flexibility, savings and safety.  

“These three elements are fundamental to the continued education of women in Mexico who because of limitations established by their personal life, income level and mobility are unable to pursue traditional, in-person education institutions,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, Global CEO, Coursea.  

Furthermore, given the underrunning correlation of education in realizing adjacent UN sustainable goals, it is imperative that Mexico’s public and private education institutions and private organizations continue generating education courses. Technology companies have been important partners to this ambition, who themselves have seen it opportune to generate talent with the specific skill sets their organizations need. So far, specialized accreditation with leading companies, which implies transferable practical application, has proved to be a competitive market differentiator among employers. 

“Women are at the center of recovery efforts after the COVID-19 pandemic. Job losses for Latin American women were 2.5 times higher than for men, and recovery has been slow. This study shows that online education offers a convenient tool to help women find new jobs” while at the same time “create new jobs, which are very necessary for the economy,” said Juan Gonzalo Flores, Country Manager, IFC México. 

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