Robots are actually helping close the gender pay gap because they help with 'female' jobs more than 'male' ones.
March 19, 2026
Original Paper
The Global Expansion in Robotization and the Declining Gender Wage Gap
SSRN · 6438882
The Takeaway
Contrary to the fear that automation replaces all workers, this study across 60 countries shows that robots often replace roles requiring physical strength while complementing the skills of female workers. This effect accounts for the majority of the gender wage gap decline in high-income countries since 1969.
From the abstract
The global gender wage gap has declined significantly over the past few decades in high middle- and low-income countries. In this paper, we hypothesize that automation—signified by the increasing robot uptake—has contributed to the decreasing gender wage gap because robots are more complementary to female labor than to male labor. To test this hypothesis, we construct an annual dataset on the gender wage ratio and robot capital in manufacturing for 60 high-, middle-, and low-income countries spa