Accelerating gender parity in the fourth industrial revolution: An agenda for leaders to shape the future of education, gender and work

Making the most of this opportunity requires concerted action across diverse high-growth sectors and by invested stakeholders. This document aims to support the development
of a common set of future-oriented priorities for leaders to champion and implement, including members of the World Economic Forum’s System Initiative on the Future of Education, Gender and Work, both through the Forum’s platform and their own. It draws upon the latest work in international organizations, think tanks, businesses and other stakeholders, as well as submissions and conversations with Dialogue Series participants. We hope these priorities can help set the agenda for reform and reinforce the urgency for change. This paper explores the dynamics of the challenges and opportunities for the acceleration of gender parity in sectors and job families that are likely to exhibit high growth in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: including Education, Consumption, Financial Services, and Care Sectors, as well as in STEM-expertise job families including Engineering, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Life Sciences Academia. We propose strategies for these sectors and job families, as well as strategies that may help accelerate system-wide change.