AI Transformation Potential Impacts Both Men and Women in the Labor Market

Virginia Sondergeld, Katharina Wrohlich and Julia Redelings

DIW Weekly Report, 2026, vol. 16, issue 14/15, 135-141

Abstract: Technological progress in the field of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is set to radically transform the labor market. The transformation potential of AI varies greatly across occupations. Given that the German labor market is strongly segregated by gender, it is important to examine whether GenAI-driven transformation will affect women and men differently. When data on AI transformation potential for specific occupations are compared with their share of female employees, no clear relationship emerges between an occupation’s share of women and its AI transformation potential. AI will have very little impact on both some heavily female-dominated and some heavily male-dominated occupations, such as, for example, childcare and construction. By contrast, most of the occupations with high transformation potential have a relatively balanced share of male and female employees. However, since virtually all occupations are expected to be transformed by AI to some extent, there is a need for all employees – women and men alike – to receive targeted and continuous training. In the course of this, the AI skills gender gap identified in some studies should be narrowed as much as possible.

Keywords: Generative AI; Gender Inequalities; Job Segregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J21 J23 J24 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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