Women hold 15 of 20 jobs most exposed to AI automation

A new analysis of Australia's workforce reveals a significant gender dimension to AI automation risk: occupations employing more women face disproportionately higher exposure to displacement by generative AI technologies.

Researchers Leonora Risse, an associate professor of economics at Queensland University of Technology, and Elise Stephenson, deputy director at the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at the Australian National University, compared automation exposure ratings from Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) with gender composition data across occupations. Their findings show a clear pattern of risk concentration in female-dominated fields.

Office work faces highest automation exposure

Office and administrative jobs emerged as the sector with both the highest automation exposure and the largest share of female workers—more than 70 percent. These roles account for approximately one-fifth of all jobs held by women in Australia.

Of the 20 occupations rated as having the highest potential for AI automation, 15 were female-majority roles. Five of those 15 had workforces exceeding 80 percent women, including accounting clerks, general clerks, and human resources and payroll staff.

By contrast, 17 of the 20 occupations with the lowest automation exposure were male-majority roles.

Labor market signals align with automation patterns

Early hiring trends appear consistent with these exposure ratings, though researchers caution against drawing direct causal conclusions. Between June 2025 and June 2026, total online job postings in Australia declined approximately 1.7 percent.

However, postings for roles with high automation exposure fell more sharply: personal assistants and bookkeeping staff dropped roughly 22 percent, while general clerk positions declined about 9 percent. Meanwhile, postings for concrete workers—a low-exposure occupation—rose 5.5 percent, and electrician positions increased 14.3 percent.

Why it matters

As organizations deploy generative AI to handle routine administrative tasks, the technology's impact may widen existing gender gaps in employment and earnings rather than affect workers uniformly. Without targeted policy interventions, automation could reverse decades of progress in women's workforce participation, particularly in white-collar sectors that have historically offered stable employment and career advancement opportunities.

Call for gender-aware AI policy

The researchers emphasized that AI policy must incorporate a gender perspective. They advocate for systems that identify transferable skills among office workers facing automation and facilitate retraining and career transitions into emerging roles.

The findings were first reported by Japanese media outlet Gigazine on September 6, drawing on the researchers' analysis of Australian government workforce data.