15.02.2019

Women still face “massive gender bias” in UK workforce, according to huge new AI-powered study

A new Artificial Intelligence system, which examined the role of men and women in the British workplace by reading every website originating from the UK, has found that there is still huge gender bias.

The study was created by a team of AI engineers and data scientists at the UK start-up Glass A.I, whose technology read and interpreted every website of the internet from the UK and compiled information on employment practices.

The study, published this month by the Royal Statistical Society, reveals stark differences between gender work-roles, and huge segregation in some sectors of the economy.

It finds that around 95% of receptionists, legal secretaries and care assistants are female in the UK while 85% of investment bankers are male, and the creative industries remain overwhelmingly male dominated.

Despite being almost as equally likely to participate in the work force – men remain far more likely than women to be in leadership roles, across all sectors.

KEY FINDINGS:

82% of all CEOs, 92% of chairpersons and 73% of directors are male, which confirms statistics already highlighted by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) research.
Of 108 economic sectors examined, 87% are biased towards men. Investment banking is 85% male, across all roles.
Civil Engineering, oil and gas remain 80% male.
Creative industries such as media, music, internet and photography also remain heavily male biased.
The study does reveal some female dominated sectors too – veterinary science is 78% female, and primary and secondary education is 71% female.

Data Scientist Ana-Maria Huluba who ran this study says: “It is well known that there is a male bias in the board room, what has not been appreciated is the sheer scale of bias across ordinary jobs, and the level of gender segregation between sectors.

“What makes the study even more interesting is that men and women actually appear in almost equal numbers on the web in total, with 51% male, and 49% female – which matches the ONS numbers for gender in the workplace. And yet beneath this we get this massive segregation of roles and appearance in different economic sectors. This is a complex pattern that is supportive and yet goes beyond traditional stereotypes of activity."

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