Women in UK manufacturing most exposed to generative AI

Beko has commissioned research suggesting women in UK manufacturing are disproportionately concentrated in jobs exposed to generative AI. According to the study, women account for 63.4% of workers in the roles most exposed to the technology.

The findings come from a report by Zoi Roupakia, Founder and Director of Noetic AI. It is based on a survey of 890 manufacturing professionals, alongside analysis of Office for National Statistics employment data and International Labour Organisation occupational AI exposure data.

The research found that women make up 27.8% of the UK manufacturing workforce overall. Yet 41.1% of women's manufacturing employment is in occupations exposed to change from generative AI adoption, compared with 23.6% of men's.

The most exposed roles are mainly administrative jobs, where women outnumber men. Sales and customer service roles also show significant exposure, with women making up half the workforce in those occupations.

The report examines how generative AI could affect existing gender imbalances in hiring, pay and career progression as businesses adopt the technology in management and workplace processes. It argues that the way employers introduce AI will determine whether it broadens opportunity or reinforces existing inequalities.

Survey findings also point to differences in how men and women view the risks. Women were more likely than men to believe AI bias harms employee wellbeing, pay and job opportunities, and diversity and inclusion.

It found that 41.1% of women said AI bias could damage wellbeing, compared with 28.7% of men. On pay and job opportunities, 33.3% of women expressed concern, against 22.9% of men. Meanwhile, 27.7% of women pointed to risks for diversity and inclusion, compared with 17.1% of men.

Trust in AI-driven decisions was also lower among women: 32.1% said they trusted such decisions, compared with 42.9% of men.

Workplace concerns

Although similar shares of women and men said they had witnessed AI bias, women were more likely to identify flawed hiring decisions and the loss of talent through recruitment or promotion decisions as possible consequences. Some 28.3% of women identified flawed hiring decisions, against 20.5% of men, while 16.7% pointed to loss of talent, compared with 11.5% of men.

The report also found that 24.4% of women, compared with 10.2% of men, saw the limited representation of women in both the AI industry and manufacturing roles as a barrier to addressing AI bias.

Most respondents said they did not know what action their employer was taking. Some 58% were unaware of any measures their company had introduced to address AI bias, and about half of both women and men said their employer was doing too little to prepare for AI.

There was, however, broad agreement on transparency, with 87% of both women and men saying they wanted AI systems to be more transparent.

Respondents also described examples of bias in practice. One female Senior Manager at a manufacturing SME said: "When sifting through CVs for a technical managerial position, AI seemed to prefer proposing male candidates. When I double-checked AI's recommendations for the position, I found a more suitable female candidate did exist among the CVs supplied."

Early adoption

The research comes as ministers push for both wider AI use in advanced manufacturing and higher female representation in the sector. The report argues those two policy aims could clash if employers do not consider how AI affects different groups of workers.

AI adoption in manufacturing remains at a relatively early stage. Industry research cited in the study said only 2% of manufacturers have AI widely embedded across their operations, fewer than 40% use it in any form, and more than half cite skills shortages as the main barrier.

Roupakia said the report did not conclude that women's jobs in manufacturing were being eliminated by AI, but that women were more likely to work in occupations where tasks could change.

"It's important to be clear that this report does not conclude that AI is taking women's jobs in manufacturing. Rather, it shows that women are disproportionately represented in some of the occupations most exposed to AI-driven task change, which could affect how they work. The most exposed roles are not on the production line: they are in administrative and customer service occupational groups where women outnumber men in UK manufacturing.

"Adoption still remains at an early stage, so the decisions that will determine whether AI widens or narrows opportunities for women are being made now, in how employers introduce the technology, redesign work and govern these systems. To avoid 'the default setting', we must ensure that AI adoption widens access to skills, fair treatment, participation and progression, rather than reproducing existing inequalities in the structure of work," Roupakia said.

Teresa Arbuckle, Regional Managing Director of Beko UK & Ireland, said the company had used the findings to review its own approach to responsible AI and workforce policies.

"AI, used in partnership with human expertise and decision-making, presents a significant opportunity to help manufacturing businesses become more efficient and productive. But this should not come at the cost of greater representation. We need to take everyone on this journey, regardless of gender, and we want to see more women enter manufacturing businesses and continue to progress into leadership and specialist roles. This report sets out a blueprint for how we can achieve both goals, without one undermining the other," Arbuckle said.