From digital divide to investment dividend: Why women are the key to a future-proof workforce

Two years ago, I stood on the threshold of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and sounded a clear alarm: We cannot achieve a sustainable economy without gender parity in STEM. Putting women at the forefront of engineering and technology is the most crucial investment for growth and resilience.

Today, the stakes are even higher, and the urgency is magnified. The question before us at Davos 2026 is: How can we better invest in people?

The answer is less about mere policy and more about a deeply integrated, holistic strategy. We must reframe the investment in women and girls not as a social expense, but as the highest-return capital expenditure for the resilient, inclusive and future-proof economy the world desperately needs.

The foundational truth remains: Investing in women is investing in humanity's most underutilized economic engine.

The pace of change in technology is staggering. The WEF Future of Jobs Report 2023 said that 22% of today’s jobs worldwide will be transformed by AI in the next five years, and these shifts will result in a net loss of 14 million jobs globally (83 million displaced and 69 million created) over the same period.

This shift presents a profound duality: it is a threat to the unprepared workforce, but a massive opportunity for the skilled and adaptable ones. To meet this challenge, the call for reskilling and upskilling is non-negotiable; it is an absolute must. But if these programmes are gender-blind, we will simply automate inequality.

We must make our investment gender-intentional by focusing on three key areas:

1. Bridging the foundational STEM gap: Our work from 2023 – supporting initiatives like Global Engineer Girls (GEG) to get young women into core STEM fields – is still step one. A high-tech future cannot be built on an unequal foundation.Therefore, doubling down on the resources allocated to early-stage, gender-specific STEM initiatives is non-negotiable.

2. Upskilling the current workforce: Millions of women, particularly in emerging economies, are currently in roles most susceptible to automation. Our investment must rapidly equip them with the digital fluency, AI literacy and “soft skills” (e.g. critical thinking, creativity, communication, agility and collaboration) that AI cannot replicate. This is where the private sector must step up with flexible, accessible and certified training programmes.

3. Targeting the emerging economy tsunami: With nearly 800 million young people entering working age in emerging economies over the next decade, job creation must accelerate. If we intentionally train and mentor young women in these regions for the new-collar jobs created by AI – in data annotation, ethical AI auditing and green technology – they will become the economic catalysts their nations require. This is how we turn a labour surplus into a global advantage.

A good example is the staggering need for a million more electricians in the United States; an industry being rapidly transformed by the green energy transition, new technologies and a massive wave of retirements. This illustrates the scale and urgency with which we must train women globally for all specialized roles in the emerging green and digital economies.

Our investment in people must also be intrinsically linked to another major challenge of this decade: building prosperity globally.

As Chair of the WEF Engineering and Construction Industry Group, I see first hand that the transition to sustainable infrastructure, net-zero operations and circular economic models requires a massive injection of innovative thinking. This is where the gender intentionality of our strategy pays its greatest dividend.

If women remain marginalized in engineering, construction and climate-tech fields, we exclude the essential perspectives and solutions needed to design truly sustainable, resilient cities and energy systems.

Investing in the skills of female engineers is not just a matter of social justice; it is the most direct way to secure the specialized human capital necessary to solve the trillion-dollar, planet-sized problems discussed in Davos every year. It’s how we ensure that our infrastructure investment is not just built, but built sustainably and inclusively.

The challenge of 2026 – reskilling an AI-transformed world, absorbing a youthful labour surplus, and driving inclusive growth – is immense. But the solution is clear: The single most potent and leveraged investment we can make is in the holistic potential of women and girls.

Let us move beyond well-intentioned pledges. It is time for scaled, integrated and measurable investment programmes that connect our foundational work in STEM education (2023's promise) to the new demands of the AI age (2026's imperative).

This is not charity; it is enlightened self-interest. The future global economy will be built on the skills, health and resilience of its people.

Let us ensure that 50% of that future workforce – the women who are ready to lead – are given the tools to shape it. The dividend is a world that is not just sustainable, but truly equitable, resilient and ready for whatever the next revolution brings. Let's make that investment now.