Rethinking the economy by addressing the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and the role of women. These were the two focuses of the IV Annual Conference of the Global Thinking Foundation, the think tank founded four years ago, with the aim of promoting a culture of economic citizenship among less well-off students, families and savers, supporting the Global Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and with particular attention to the issue of women and their position in the labor market.
“When we talk about women – she said the president of GTF, Claudia Segre -, our attention must be maximum, because not caring about social inequalities translates into an economic cost that leads to lower productivity. As also recalled by the new Director of the IMF Krystalina Goergieva at the Annual Meetings last October, women are the most discriminated group globally, regardless of where they belong”. Precisely from here derives the ever greater attention that Global Thinking Foundation reserves in the dissemination of financial education programs for adults, women and the economic sustainability of families (especially single-parents) with training, information, tutoring and mentorship activities spread across the National territory.
Claudia Segre then listed some data, which still testify to the marginalization of women in the process of economic development, especially in the technological field: "Women they are 52% of the world population but in the EU only 62,4% have a job, of which only 15% in the Information Technology sector. According to the McKinsey Global Institute report 'The future of women at work', with the digital revolution, by 2030, between 40 and 160 million women will have to think about retraining or looking for a new job”. And if in Europe 1 out of 6 women is an ICT specialist and 1 out of 3 STEM graduates is a woman, in Italy, on the other hand, STEM graduates do not exceed 20% and, more generally, women with a skill base digital are 37,9% against 53,1% of the European average.
“According to the World Economic Forum – added Segre – we are still a long way from being able to solve the digital gender gap. Indeed, at the current rate of change, it will take 108 years to close the overall gender gap and as many as 202 to achieve parity on the ground." But the digital gap, in Italy, does not concern only women. The subject of the conference was in fact the applications of artificial intelligence for the pursuit of widespread and inclusive social well-being, analyzed under various aspects: the importance of the social security aspect, urban planning and augmented reality cities, migratory flows and the economic effects of climate change, ethics and the protection of trademarks and patents, against the backdrop of a Fintech innovation scenario.
However, Italy is not well equipped for this epochal turning point: it is fourth last among EU countries in terms of digital literacy, and has a similar delay onfinancial literacy. The reasons? The backwardness of the school and basic training system and the difficulties of accessing and using the network. Indeed, only 69% of the population has access to and uses the Internet regularly and only 31% know and use online banking services. The use of e-governance is 13% in Italy, compared to the European average which rises to 30%. And again, only 25% of workers use office software because 40% are unable to make effective use of it. With a youth unemployment rate of 24% and the strong demand for jobs linked to digital knowledge, digitization in schools, as well as the inclusion of financial education as a subject of study, can now not be postponed.
“But above all – concluded Claudia Segre -: more women in digital and AI jobs will drive more momentum for a development that leaves no one behind, trying to avoid the risk of marginalization of the most fragile social groups and, therefore, the creation of a new social barrier of digital illiteracy. More women in the labor market could also create an annual GDP increase of €16 billion for European growth. And the current impetus on sustainability in the corporate and social fields has now involved users and citizens in one voice”.
