SEISMEC at the CESI Summer Days 2024!
In collaboration with the SEISMEC Project and Reshaping Work, our partner CESI successfully hosted the 2024 edition of their Summer Days event, with a focus on exploring the intersection of new technologies, AI, and gender equality in the workplace. Two days full of dynamic discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities filled the agenda and left participants with an unforgettable experience to kick off the summer.
Jason Pridmore, our project’s coordinator, along with Selma Toktas from Erasmus University Rotterdam, shared their thoughts through an interactive presentation on the topic of ‘’Equitable AI: Addressing bias in employment opportunities’’.
The discussion for this panel was shaped around two main questions:
What issues do women face in employment due to AI?
Access and disruption in tech jobs are at the very top of women’s concerns regarding AI, closely followed by bias, both in recruitment and hiring practices. Other pressing issues are maintaining a healthy work-life balance, minimizing workplace surveillance, and finally bridging the pay gap to unlock better salaries and career opportunities.
How will we address these issues through SEISMEC and Reshaping Work?
After introducing both initiatives to the audience, a discussion on gender-critical issues followed, speckled with personal experiences from panel members and backed up throughout with key statistics and figures. SEISMEC’s contribution in this area will be to ensure that gender equality is considered in all stages of our piloting experiences, fostering an ‘’equality-by-design’’ approach and defining gender concerns as a cross-cutting issue across all pilots in the project.
These conversations sparked a lively and fruitful discussion with participants in attendance. Here are some key highlights and takeaways from the session:
• 52% of women are employed in the science and technology industry, but they remain underrepresented as scientists and engineers.
• We need to focus on the roots of critical gender concerns.
• Opening up and enforcing transparency in AI systems’ lifecycles is critical to increase trust and encourage adoption
• Women face more hardships regarding their careers: they get fewer promotions and development opportunities. AI can inherit these biases and perpetuate them further.
• Work-life Balance: increasing opportunities for remote work through automation may further the burden regarding gendered housework.
All in all, the CESI Summer Days event highlighted the urgent need for collaborative efforts to address gender gaps in a fast-evolving landscape that will be increasingly shaped by AI and digital technologies.
Revisit the full event here.
Cover Photo by Cash Macanaya on Unsplash
