Editing Office - Geneva HQ 

Date: 7 Mar 2019 

Time: 13:00 - 14:30 

Location: Room XXV, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland 

Counterpart(s): Permanent Mission of Indonesia in Geneva 

Project Title: Linking Social Protection and Human Rights

Technological and infrastructural innovations have profound impacts on the way society functions, affecting human rights in ways both positive and negative. On the one hand, new technologies can help provide access to education, improving outcomes for people who may otherwise find it difficult to enter the labour market. In the world of work, mobile apps like Uber, Grab, Airbnb and Innclusive can also offer people who may be struggling to find formal employment an alternative way to make money; in some cases using resources they already own and thus eliminating potentially costly start-up costs. On the other hand, while these new innovations provide income-generating opportunities, these jobs are often not enough to ensure a decent living standard and lack any social protection benefits. New technologies may soon render many jobs obsolete, as has technological change throughout history. What may be particular about technological change today, however, is the disproportionate risk to jobs held by women: the IMF recently estimated that 180 million jobs held by women are at risk of being eliminated globally. This is in part because many “female” jobs — like customer service, low-skilled clerical and sales jobs — are more likely to be automated than jobs in industries typically occupied by men, like science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs. At the same time, however, there may be job growth in other (traditionally female-dominated) sectors, such as education and health services. How can we ensure that new technologies do not lead to widespread job loss or increasingly precarious jobs? What needs to be done to ensure these new technologies do not reinforce existing gender inequalities? 

For more Information: http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BD6AB/(httpEvents)/538360C94E48A92BC12583970056C743?OpenDocument